Super Gorgeous

Nails of the Day - 17 Risky Red

2012-03-06T14:24:00.001Z

I have to admit, it's been a while since I tried a polish from the 17 range... a while since I bought anything from them actually, but the 'Supreme Shine - up to 10 day wear' range looked rather promising, and grown up.

Today I am wearing Risky Red, which is a lovely bright blood red colour. You may notice that it's a little bit messy - I found it tricky to apply! The formula was great - really glossy and opaque with just one coat - but I found the brush quite hard to work with. It is short and fat but very dense. On one hand it's fab as you can get so much of your nail covered in just one swipe of the brush, but on the other I found it hard to get to the sides of my nails without either leaving a gap, or getting it on my fingers! That said, the colour is gorgeous, and it is definitely supremely shiny, as it says on the bottle, which I love!

I'm on day 2 of wearing it and there is very very slight tip-wear to my forefinger, which is always the first to go. Nail polishes don't tend to last for long on my nails anyway - but I certainly don't think it'll last the full 10 days. The polish is only £3.99 (and 3 for 2 at the moment) - it's great value for money.

Have you tried any of these polishes? Do you have the same brush issue, or is that just me!?

What's in my Make Up Bag?

2012-03-05T11:45:00.000Z

I had a few requests on YouTube to film a 'what's in my make up bag' video... so I did! I managed to work out how to use my proper camera for video - so the quality is better that previous videos of mine. Click below to view it...

If anyone has any other ideas for videos they'd like to see from me please let me know and I'll do my best!

Four Reasons Repair Shampoo & Conditioner

2012-02-29T14:41:00.001Z

Like me, you may not have heard of Four Reasons before. Although they are absolutely massive in Finland, the country they hail from, and have won Cosmopolitans Hair Care Product award in 2011, they have only just been launched in the UK and are are just beginning to emerge.

I was sent some products to try out from the brand, and today I'm going to talk to you about the Repair Shampoo & Conditioner.

The first thing that that I noticed about the products is the design - which I adore. It's funky and modern and I can see it being very eye-catching on the shelves. It plays on the 'Four Reasons' - giving lots of reasons all over the bottles! The green and white work really well together, giving a zesty, but not too bright, look to the packaging.

Once I got in the shower, I discovered the second thing I love about the packaging - I was expecting it to open like all other bottles that look like this, but looks are deceiving! When you push down the top, it disappears into the bottle, rather than each piece coming out at a slant (I do hope you know what I mean!?)... it's the quirky little points that are making me like the shampoo and conditioner before I'd even tried them.

The shampoo and conditioner have the scent of crisp green apples, which is lovely, and compliments the green on the packing nicely. It has that kind of 'professional hair brand' smell to it which is always a luxury when washing your hair.

I have very thick, highlighted hair, and lots of it... I had to use the same amount of product as I would with any normal shampoo and conditioner.

My hair didn't seem any shinier or more manageable after using these products - and for the £9.95 and £10.95 that these products cost, I would expect my hair to be a bit more 'wow'. Howevvvverrrrrrr.... I am a serial split-end-picker... when I'm bored, or watching tv, I will find a chunk of hair, detect the split ends and pull pull pull. I have definitely noticed that there seem to be less split ends for me to pull - particularly around the front of my hair which is most colour-treated since I started using the Repair Shampoo and Conditioner.

Although I'm pleased with the fact my hair has been repaired, I'm not sure I would buy these particular products again merely for the fact there's no big visible difference, and for that price, I would want an all-in package. I realise that these products have done what they've promised, and so I am very keen to try out some other of their shampoo & conditioners to see if they suit me better.

If you'd like to check out the range, you can do so by visiting www.fourreasonshaircare.com

Had you heard of the brand before? Do you love the packaging as much as me!?

MAC Viva Glam Nicki

2012-02-28T11:48:00.000Z

The latest Viva Glam offering from MAC is that of Nicki and Ricky. Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin. Nicki has this gorgeous pinky corally lipstick, and Ricky a lip conditioner. As with all Viva Glam products, 100% of sales go to the AIDS foundation charity.

The new items are due to launch online this Friday in the UK, however I was sent a code by MAC for a pre-sale. I absolutely knew I would want this, so I ordered it straight away.

Nicki Minaj has designed a lipstick for MAC before, Pink Friday, which is very different from her Viva Glam Shade. Pink Friday is a very cool toned baby pink, while Viva Glam Nicki is a lot warmer, with yellow tones. It's also very different from the Viva Glam Gaga, the last pink in the Viva Glam range.

It is almost coral in colour - I want to call it melon, even though I've never seen a melon that colour... do you know what I mean!? If you have seen the Vivienne Westwood perfume, Cheeky Alice, its exactly the same colour as the box!

It is fairly dry, but not matt. This definitely helps it to last on the lips - it's incredibly long lasting - I wore it out on Saturday night and where I would have normally reapplied my lipstick 3 times, I only needed to do it once in the same space of time.

It is very bright, but I love it. I think I will love it even more once I am tanned (at least, I hope I get a tan this year!)

What do you think? Do you like it?

It's limited edition, only on sale for the next year, so I may buy another!

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Nails of the Day - Nails Inc Baker Street

2012-02-27T13:04:00.000Z

This is the nail varnish making waves across the press at the moment, as it's the very same nail polish that Beyonce Knowles wore on her first public appearance since having her daughter, baby Blue Ivy. I've spotted a few of the TOWIE girls wearing it too and I can see why. It's gorgeous!

Baker Street is one of the new shades from Nails Inc - an eye catching bright cobalt blue which I am in love with! I have a bit of a thing for blue nails and this has just zoomed to the top of my list!

The polish is really bold and bright from the first coat. It is a little streaky with just one, but with two coats it is lovely and opaque and glossy.

It reminds me a bit of the hard to find AWOL by Topshop but this is richer and deeper and somehow a bit yummier!

What do you think of blue nails? Do you like Baker Street!?

FashionistA Double Take Long Wear Lipstick: Red Carpet & Coral

2012-02-24T10:30:00.000Z

FashionistA is one of the brands sold at Superdrug which has a lot of really good items at great prices. Katie Jane Hughes did the make up for the recent PPQ show at London Fashion Week using FashionistA products - if it's good enough for LFW then it's good enough for me!

One of their products is the Double Take Long Wear lipstick. It comes in a metallic red tube, which is quite high-street, but eye catching, and seeing as it's only £7 for a full sized lippie, you can't really complain.

I have two of the seven shades - Red Carpet (shade 6), and Coral (shade 7). Both lipsticks are really highly pigmented - one swoop of these across my lips totally covered them. They have a slight taste of french vanilla to them, which is pleasant, and feel very moistursing as you put them on - they seem to glide across your lips.

Red Carpet is a true red colour which is very glossy. I would recommend wearing a lip liner to help prevent it from bleeding. It lasts well - the swatch on my hand was quite stubborn when it came to trying to get it off!

Coral is absolutely gorgeous! I thought it was going to come out a proper orange - so was so pleased to see that it was this beautiful soft yet bold colour. It doesn't last quite as long as the Red, but even after eating a meal, the colour still remained. I'll definitely wear this one a lot.

Does your local Superdrug stock FashionistA? Mine doesn't unfortunately, but when I find one that does I will definitely be trying out some more of these lipsticks. For £7 you can't really go wrong!

What's in my Joliebox?

2012-02-23T11:33:00.001Z

I got my February Joliebox this morning - have a look at my video if you'd like to see what I got inside mine...

Let me know your thoughts! How would you feel about these products?!

MAC Naturally Collection: Mineralize Skinfinish in Blonde

2012-02-22T19:53:00.000Z

When I saw that MAC were releasing the Naturally Collection I got rather excited - I love wearing natural hues of makeup, and thought I would buy near enough the whole shebang. Having learned from previous online collection haul mistakes, I decided I'd wait to see it in the flesh before committing to a purchase.

I thought that the Sweet Sunrise would be a definite buy - but in reality it was just too close to my natural skin tone for it to ever look good! One of the first things that caught my eye on the display was the Mineralize Skinfinish. I am a massive everyday-wearer of Stereo Rose MSF, and Blonde reminded me slightly of it, of her - my favourite ever blush product... they could be cousins. As part of the Naturally Collection, MAC re-released Blonde and Redhead Mineralize Skinfinishes, which originally came out as part of the Blonde, Brunette and Redhead Collection.

When I first laid eyes on Blonde, it looked pinkish - far more pink than once it's swatched. The domed product has four stripes of colour, varying from a soft pink rose colour to a more coral, apricot tone. When swatched, it definitely takes on more of the apricot colour.

It is meant to be a highlighter, but I love wearing this, and Stereo Rose, as blushes. For reference, I am an NC20 in MAC - if you are a lot darker this probably wouldn't work as anything but a highlighter.

It has a frosted finish to it, so if you are using it as a blush you have to be careful not to be too heavy handed or all your pores will end up extra visible! I use a MAC 187 brush as it is very fluffy so distributes the product nice and softly.

I tried to take a photo of me wearing it but it's not really the best angle - anyway, here it is...

You can see it better, or from a different angle, in this photo taken of me today at London Fashion Week which I've borrowed from the AOFM website. Please note, I also have some Shu Uemera bronzer on under my cheekbone for contour.

So, that is Blonde - the gorgeous, pretty, soft blush / highlighter. Stereo Rose is going to have to watch out now her cousin's on the scene. There is going to be some serious competition in the mornings! Luckily Redhead was out of stock, otherwise I'd be wasting even more time deciding which I'd wear that day!

Have you checked out the Naturally Collection yet? What did you get? Should I keep trying for Redhead?!

Backstage Makeup at London Fashion Week

2012-02-21T13:35:00.000Z

This past weekend I was at London Fashion week, working on a couple of shows as part of the make up team.

On Friday I worked on the Bora Aksu show which was keyed by Janeen Witherspoon - this is my model Charlie May after I had done her make up.

Once we had prepped the skin, we started by giving the models a lovely face massage with essential oils. Then, after using a small amount of MAC Face & Body we applied Kryolan Shimmer Foundation over the top which is a gorgeous product I hadn't worked with before. To get the additional highlight on the temple, cheekbones, nose and chin, we used MAC Cream Colour Base in Pearl, with a MAC Highlighting powder over the top.

We used black cream liner to dig inside the upper lashes, to create some definition without drawing a line. We then used a brown eye pencil in the crease of the eye, and blended it out, followed by the same technique with the grey pencil.

We added a bit of contour to the face using MAC's Sculpt, and then applied a silver lipstick and silver shimmer powder over the top.

These photos have been taken from the Vogue website

On Saturday I was part of the team working on Eudon Choi, which was keyed by Adam De Cruz. We got the blood in the models faces going by really buffing the moisutriser into their faces using a stippling brush. We then used a very small amount of Sheisedo foundation - it had to look like skin, so we buffed it in using the same brush.

I then used a Shu Uemera eyebrow pencil then blended the edges to make a smokey brow kind of look. We brushed the brows upwards using clear brow gel, to make them look fuller, and applied a little amont of a nude eyeshadow in the inner corner of the eye up to the brow. We curled the lashes but didn't use any mascara.

This photo has been taken from the Vogue website

We used a lip shade similar to the models' natural lips and applied it using a pencil brush to give a just bitten feel. We then gave the models freckles across their noses and cheeks - we used a Tom Ford cream bronzer and a stippling brush to create that effect.

I had such an amazing time, and am going back tomorrow to do the Lou Dalton show which I am also looking forward to. If anyone would like to know about the make up on that show, please let me know - I'm not sure if you find these kinds of posts useful!?

What's in my Glossybox?

2012-02-20T20:59:00.001Z

I got my February Glossybox today - check out my video to see what was inside.

Let me know your thoughts on this months box in the comments below

1500 Followers Giveaway!

2012-02-17T10:00:00.000Z

I hit 1500 GFC Followers yesterday - thank you all so very much! I know it doesn't mean much to some people, but it means a lot to me - so thank you for following, commenting and supporting!

As with all the important milestones - I'd like to say thank you back to my readers, so I have deicded to have a giveaway and this time one lucky reader will get the OPI Nicki Minaj Collection of polishes.

As my followers are all over the world, this is open internationally. You can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.

Good luck! x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lifehouse Spa

2012-02-16T10:00:00.000Z

With all the Valentines love floating around, it reminded me of a trip I took last year to Lifehouse Spa, in Thorpe-le-Soken in Essex which I've not blogged about. It was the first time I had been to a *proper* spa in all my twenty-eight years, and was really looking forward to unwinding and chilling out. I took my Mum with me, an avid spa-goer to get her spin on things too.

As we drove out of London and into the countryside, and eventually losing mobile signal, we knew we were close. Lifehouse is in the middle of a little village with 130 acres of grounds and 12 acres of listed gardens which as I walked through, felt I was in The Secret Garden!

The first thing we noticed was just how friendly and welcoming everyone was. As we walked from the car park, the gardeners stopped what they were doing to greet us hello, and it was the same with all staff members throughout our stay.

The choice of rooms at Lifehouse are Good, Great or Best but each of them is special in their own way. The 'Good' rooms that I saw had their own patio doors which led out to their own little table and chairs within the grounds - gorgeous! We had a Best room which was fab - a really generous size, twin beds, which we so comfortable, a Juliette balcony overlooking the courtyard, a dressing table and bathroom.

The first thing I noticed in the bathroom were the Elemis goodies for us to use! My favourite thing was the mirror - when you had a shower the mirror would steam up, as expected, apart from a perfect square in the middle, so you could still see yourself - I neeeeed one of these in my home! The shower is turned on from a button next to the sink so you don't have to get cold waiting for it to come on and sorting out the temperature once you're in there, and has a massive head for a shower like heavy rain - bliss!

Once we'd changed into our complimentary Lifehouse robes, which are pretty much uniform for anyone staying, we went off to explore.

The upper level of the spa area is where all the treatments take place - apart from OBE (Oriental Bathing Experience) which is Lifehouse's signature treatment, and you can read more about here. In the middle of the level is The Hub - where you go to book, or check in for your treatments. Mum and I both had massages booked in - we chilled out at the juice bar until we were called for our 90 minutes of bliss.

I had the ScenTao of Asia massage which was ultra-relaxing. It involved a full body massage using ScenTao oil, then a hot stone massage which is something I had never had before. It was a strange experience but I soon got into the swing of it! The weirdest part was when a hot stone was put between each of my toes - I just wanted to giggle, and knowing I shouldn't made it even harder to keep my laugh in! It finished off with a facial massage. I was a bit wary - the last time I'd had a 'facial' involved extractions and a pretty red face for a few days after. This was nothing like that - this was definitely a massage. I was blissed out.

My Mum had the Classic with a Twist - a full body massage which lets you choose 3 key areas to have extra work on. Unfortunately my Mum fell asleep so I can't tell you much about the treatment - other than it must have been pretty relaxing for her to drop off!

We met in the Chill area - a quiet room where people go after their treatments, or if they just want to chill - there are reclining chaise lounges with blankets for you to put over yourself, or massage chairs which are absolutely amazing. I need one of these for my home too! They manage to tip you so you are laying completely horizontal, while the machinery gets to work on your body - ohhhhh it's making me wiggle remembering it - just fantastic.

Once we had summoned up enough energy to move, we went down to the pool area for a dip. As well as the swimming pool, which to be honest, we didn't venture in to - there is a plunge pool, jacuzzi, salt room, sauna and steam room. The poolside showers come out as different levels of rain which was a lovely touch. I had never been in a salt room before - they are meant to be great for respiratory and skin problems - it was a lot more bearable than the sauna or steam room (I'm a bit of a wuss!) and the glowing salty wall was lovely to look at.

We had just enough time to get showered and dressed before heading off for our second treatment. I had a Deluxe Manicure - deluxe because as well as a standard manicure you get a nail analysis to treat your nail type, exfoliation, massage (all the way up to your elbows) and cuticle care using LeRemedi products. The manicure was done using Jessica polishes, and I thought a lovely touch was that you get to take home a mini bottle of your chosen colour.

My Mum had Reflexology - she gets reflexology done quite a lot - she said it wasn't one of the best she'd ever had, but was good all the same.

At the end of your treatment you are given a postcard which your therapist recommends some products for you to use. What I like is that that's literally all they do - write them down for you to visit the shop at your own free will if you want to - there is no hard sale.

As the sun began to set, we couldn't believe we had manage to relax the whole day away. What about all that time we wanted to put in at the gym, and the fitness classes we wanted to do?! Yeah right!

Lifehouse doesn't agree with the whole health spa ethos - this is a spa, not a health spa. If you want wine - have a glass! They don't like to promote bad sugars though - so there's no Coca Cola etc on their menu. Lots of groups had gathered around and were drinking champagne - it made me want to be there with a big group of my friends, chilling out and relaxing!

The Water Lillies restaurant is fairly informal, but you are required to be dressed properly while you're there. The food was nice - it was quite contemporary, with little metallic baskets of fat chips and the like, but I probably wouldn't go there again if it was a stand alone restaurant.

We had planned to have a girlie night watching TV and chatting, but the minute we hit those beds, we were sound asleep - probably one of the best sleeps I'd had all year. My mum really had planned to wake up early and go to Zumba, but when I finally woke from my slumber, she was still there in the bed next to me. Far too chilled.

We had lot less planned for that day - we wandered around to see what else was on offer - we found the Library, which as well as having lots of books on health and wellbeing, had more massage chairs - these ones were much more vigorous, and computers with internet access.

Mum chilled out in the sun on an oversized deck-chair while I had a Lifehouse Consultation, which is an hour with a wellness consultant who speciailises in lifestyle and diets. As it was such a lovely day, we sat outside while we chatted - I was having some health problems at the time which we discussed in detail, and about my lifestyle in general - we spoke about how I could try to combat stress, different food choices I could make which would benefit me, and she also gave me advice on sorting out my health concern - which thankfully is now sorted. Chrissy was very easy to speak to and made me feel at ease immediately. If I'm honest, I did wonder how the session would benefit me, but I walked away feeling refreshed and armed full of knowledge - it was very useful.

Before we knew it, it was time to check out. We had an absolutely amazing weekend in a really stunning location, I just wish we'd have stayed longer - it's hard work fitting in all that relaxation! I think in future I'd definitely book for two nights to try to aid the time warp feeling. And I'd hope to bump into Jeff Brazier again - him walking round in a dressing gown helped the whole experience for sure ;)

If you like the sound of the Lifehouse Spa check out their website - www.lifehouse.co.uk - for my first spa experience it was fantastic, and left me wanting to try more... and more! They quite often have good deals on, so be sure to check out their Offers page too.

Some of the photos displayed were provided courtesy of Lifehouse Spa.

Nails of the Day - Leighton Denny Steel Appeal

2012-02-15T13:45:00.000Z

This little bottle of Leighton Denny's Steel Appeal came in my February Feel Unique box (RIP). It's the first Leighton Denny polish I've tried and has left me wanting to try more.

It is a very very dark grey, which is almost black. It has tiny flecks of micro-glitter in it - not enough for it to be sparkly, but just giving an interesting finish to the polish; a bit more dimension.

I'd been wearing a lot of pinks and reds on my nails recently and wearing this made me remember how much I love doing gothy nails, particularly in winter. I'm going to dig out Lincoln Park After Dark next <3

The application was easy - the brush fans out to enable you to get quite wide across your nail, and is definitely opaque with the two coats that I did. It's very glossy, even without top coat, and lasts well.

Do you own any Leighton Denny polishes? Which would you recommend?

Trilogy Helping Hand Wash

2012-02-13T20:44:00.000Z

I have put aside my usual Radox, or whatever is on offer for a pound at the supermarket, and for the past couple of weeks have been using Trilogy's Helping Hand Wash to, well, wash my hands.

The concept behind it is fabulous and one I am totally behind - all profits go to the Child's i Foundation which is a charity that deals with baby abandonment in Uganda. The founder of Child’s i, Lucy Buck, worked as a TV producer on shows including Big Brother, until finding an abandoned baby in a car park changed her life. This spurred Lucy on to give up her career in TV and set up her own charity as well as an orphanage in Kampala, Uganda.

Lucy says

“For several years my life was divided. I worked as a producer on high-profile TV shows and volunteered at an orphanage in Uganda. In 2008, I buried a little baby boy called Abraham. He had been abandoned in a taxi park and died of meningitis in an orphanage aged just 16 weeks. In his short life, no one had truly loved him. I decided then to quit my TV career to establish the Child’s i Foundation, with the aim of helping ensure Abraham’s tragic story wasn’t repeated over and over again. Our belief is that every child deserves to grow up in a family rather than in an institution. Every purchase of this product helps make this dream possible.”

300mls of the Hand Wash is priced at £13.50 - which is a lot more than I would normally spend on soap - but it is a really lovely product, supporting a really good cause.

It is quite lotioney in texture and doesn't lather up massively well but because of this feels really moisturising - almost as if you are washing your hands with hand cream.

If you have any other Trilogy products - if I tell you it has *that* smell, you will know what I mean. If you are a Trilogy virgin - their trademark scent is of frankincense, rose geranium and lavender and this smells just the same. It also combines the natural antibacterial properties of Elderberry and Burdock with natural vegetable oils - at this time of year all the natural goodness is definitely helping. I think this is the first year my knuckles haven't cracked with the cold - hurrah!

If you'd like to get your hands on Helping Hand Wash - check out the Trilogy website to order or find your local stockist. It's only going to be sold in 2012, so please, buy as many as you can.

If you'd like to find out more about Child's i Foundation, please visit their website www.childsifoundation.org

Cutey Charm Bracelet Giveaway

2012-02-12T11:30:00.000Z

The lovely people at Cutey would like to give away one of their gorgeous charm bracelets to a Super Gorgeous reader.

The lucky winner will get to choose from any of the bracelets on this page http://www.cutey.co.uk/bracelets

You can enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good luck! x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nails of the Day - YSL Duo Vernis No 08

2012-02-11T10:00:00.000Z

I am in love with this colour - a gorgeous soft cool toned baby pink which has received sooooo many compliments, literally wherever I go - from the pharmacy to the park.

It is part of a mini (6ml) duo of polishes - YSL Duo Vernis Couleur No08. The other colour is a pastel orange which I will swatch soon. Both of them will get a lot of wear in the warmer months, I can tell.

The brush has a slight angle to it, to enable you to paint the tips to make it last longer - and it really does last a long time and wears well. The formula is nice and thick - one coat and it's totally opaque, although, as always, I've done two.

What do you think? This is definitely going on my favourites list!

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream

2012-02-10T12:15:00.003Z

BB creams are all the rage at the moment, so it was no surprise to hear that a top brand like Clinique was bringing their own version out.

The Clinique Age Defense BB Cream has an SPF30 and helps to prevent the premature signs of ageing with UVA and UVB protectants. It has a very lightweight formula but also manages to smooth the skin and hide some imperfections. It seems to have a lot more coverage than all other BB creams I have tried, but without looking any heavier. In fact, to me, it looks as though I am wearing no make up when I wear it - in a effortless kind of way, not a 'daaaamnnn, get that girl some make up' kind of way!

I have quite a lot of scars on my face, and it managed to cover them with ease. At the time of taking the photo below I was having a period of particularly bad skin - apart from the raised spot near my nose, the BB Cream has managed to hide those imperfections.

It wears well through the day without needing to be reapplied and leaves the skin with a nice, naturally dewy kind of finish.

As I am used to wearing a full-on foundation it feels a little strange to me going out feeling so light in the face, so I have taken to wearing it for days I'm not meant to wear make up but am not brave enough to go barefaced - like swimming.

As well as being worn on its own, it can also be used under foundation as a primer to help your foundation last longer - I have enjoyed doing this, knowing that what I am putting on under my (quite heavy) foundation, is doing good to my skin.

It is allergy tested, 100% fragrance free, oil free, dermatologist tested, ophthalmologist tested, Super Gorgeous tested, non-comodegenic and suitable for all skin types. Phew!

It comes in two shades for pink or golden undertones - I used the pink - which is fine for me, but too light (almost white) on my mum who has golden tones - so if you decide to invest, make sure you get the right one for your skin tone.

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream is available exclusively at Harrods and Clinique.co.uk right now, and nationwide at selected Clinique counters from the 2nd March 2012 and is priced at £25 for 40mls.

MUA Launch Love Hearts Collection

2012-02-09T18:27:00.004Z

Last night I shimmied on down to Fruitbox, where MUA were launching their new Love Hearts Collection to the press and bloggers.

We ate love heart decorated cakes, and drank gorgeous non alcoholic cocktails from jars while we had a look at the make up goodies Make Up Academy had to offer.

As well as having a sneak peek at the new BB creams and strip lashes which are to come later in the year - we were introduced to the gorgeous new Lovehearts collection - a collaboration with Love Hearts sweets and Make Up Academy for Spring 2012.

The colours are pretty pastel shades with the odd bright thrown in and consist of six nail polishes and five lip balms.

The standard black lids of the nail polishes have been replaced with white Love Heart lids with a big loveheart on the top saying the shade name. I had my nails painted by the amazing Chelsea Dagger in U R FAB which is a gorgeous dusty raspberry colour. It looks very luxurious and shiny, and not at all like it costs £2 a bottle!

The lip balms are also a steal at £2. I got to try out three of them - Sugar Lips, Hot Lips and Sweet Kiss. They taste great - very very sweet, without the bitter aftertaste that some of these type of products have.

As well as being good for your lips, they are fab for adding a little flush of colour to your pout.

The Love Hearts collection will be in Superdrug stores from mid February and available online now at www.muastore.co.uk

Eyelash Extentions by Boudoir Lashes

2012-02-08T12:09:00.001Z

Last week, I had the pleasure of having eyelash extensions by the lovely Asma - owner of Boudoir Lashes.

Asma is a fully trained beauty therapist, who works for 3 half days in a spa in Muswell Hill, and spends the rest of her time dealing with London lash-mania within the Becca Cosmetics flagship store in Kensington.

As she spends most of her time doing lash extensions, she is what I'd refer to as a bit of an expert in her field. She knows what she's doing, she knows what works and she is a pro at graduating differing lengths of lashes in layers, which I believe is a very tricky skill to master!

When I arrived at Becca, I was greeted by Asma and we discussed what type of lashes I'd like. I told her that I wanted my lashes to look longer and fuller, but not ridiculous - I still have a job to do and the school run to go on! I had images of me walking out like Chloe Sims from TOWIE, which I needed to make sure didn't happen.

Asma examined my natural lashes, which are quite short and stumpy - and told me I have very long outer corner lashes, but short middle lashes - if we created longer lashes in the middle it would help to make my eye look more raised. She knows what she's talking about, so I just agreed with what she suggested!

We also went through a health form - if you are allergic to latex or any products found in glue you have to have a patch test at least 24 hours prior to your treatment. There was a list of things you can't do once you have your lashes on - like rub your eyes or wear your usual mascara (arghh, how will I cope!?)

I had heard that you have to have your bottom lashes taped down for this treatment and was slightly worried that I'd feel claustrophobic, but I had nothing to worry about - this was two hours of relaxation, I even felt myself drifting off at various points!

Once I laid down, Asma put a lovely snuggly blanket over me, and then she began. My bottom lashes were taped down with a micro-pore type tape, then a spongey tape was put over the top of that - that's to ensure my lashes don't get glued together - then she started the magic.

She used three different lengths of individual lashes and placed them carefully onto my lash line, over and over again - to create the look you see above. She has a lot more patience than me!

Once the two hours were over, I was told to open my eyes very slowly, and voila - I was left with a gorgeous new set of fluttery lashes!

They do look very natural - but are a lot fuller and longer. I can definitely see and feel the difference. I've attached a pic my friend took of me at the weekend - this is without mascara, curling or anything. It's a bit of a ridiculous pic, but you get to see their lashes at their full wowness.

It's taken some getting used to not wearing mascara (you can wear mascara but it has to be a special kind), and being extra careful when taking off my make up. If you're careful, lashes can last for 4-6 weeks, so I'm being as careful I can! They shed naturally as would your own eyelashes... if you want to keep them up you should have them infilled every 3 to 4 weeks, if not your eyelashes will return to normal once the lashes have dropped off!

What do you think of the lashes? Would you have this treatment done?

Check out www.boudoirlashes.co.uk for more info, or follow them on twitter @BoudoirLashes

What's in my Feel Unique Beauty Box?

2012-02-07T13:29:00.000Z

I picked up my February Feel Unique Beauty Box today - check out my video to see what's inside.

Let me know your thoughts on the contents! x

How To : Fix Broken Powders or Eyeshadows

2012-02-02T13:58:00.001Z

In yesterdays post I mentioned that I had a Shiseido Compact Foundation, which had completely smashed up. Today, I rescued it with the help of a tutorial I found online.

I'm sure it's happened to most of us - fact of the matter is, powder based products do smash - but that doesn't have to mean the end for them - they can be saved very simply... save them!

So, first you take your broken up powder...

...and tip it into a small bowl. I used the pointy end of an orange stick to scrape out all the bits that were still stuck in the pan. Use the end of a brush to break it up into a fine powder.

Then tip in a small amount of Surgical Spirit and mix it up using an orange stick, or spoon to form a paste. It's best to add a little bit of Surgical Spirit, seeing if more is needed, then adding more if necessary. It doesn't matter too much if you go overboard with it - it will just take longer to set.

Use a spoon to put it back into the empty pan, then leave it for a couple of hours somewhere where it won't be disturbed.

You can use a paper towel to press down and help shape it after a couple of hours - then leave overnight to set completely.

And there you have it - as good as new! This technique would also work to get your pigments into set powders. Happy setting!

January Empties

2012-02-01T12:37:00.001Z

I've been saving up my empty containers to show you what I've used up, and my thoughts on the products. It's more like November, December and January empties - but this is it....

one - Origins Modern Friction - This is a facial exfoliater which I have had for a while and only used about half of. It is very lemony smelling, which I love - but that combined with the rough bits which exfoliate your skin, going in your eyes as you rinse it off = nightmare. It didn't do anything amazing for my skin, didn't slough off enough dead cells for my liking, and where I've left it for a while, it's gone all sticky and gloopy. I won't be repurchasing!

two - Moroccanoil Treatment - I have since repurchased this as this is a product I never want to be with out. It does an amazing job at taming hair, smoothing it down and making it feel a lot more healthy. The smell is fabulous - I just love it. Whether you have straight or curly hair, this is just a wonder product - there's also a 'light' version for those with thinner hair.

three - Simple Kind to Eyes Eye Make-up Remover - I only bought this as a cheap stop-gap but I've already bought another, I was impressed. It's very gentle yet effective, even getting stubborn eye make up off. So cheap, so gentle - it doesn't irritate my eyes at all. Win!

four - Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation -Yes, this was also on my last 'empties' post that I did - well that's because I just keep rebuying and rebuying! Defintely the best foundation for my skin that I have found. It's still not 100% perfect, but it's my favourite for now.

five - Shiseido Sun Protection Compact Foundation - As a product, I adore this compact foundation. I use it as a blotting powder to get rid of any shine on a night out, but it also has some covering properties - some of my friends use this alone as a foundation. The only issue I have is that it smashes in my bag. I don't really know a way round it, seeing as I want to carry it around with me for those shiny moments?!

six - Laura Mercier Translucent Powder - A great powder which has no colour and doesn't look cakey when it's applied. Does a good job at setting foundation - I'd use it again but not in a hurry to go and rebuy it.

seven - MAC Stereo Rose MSF - This was sold as part of the 'In The Groove' collection and was limited edition. I was absolutely gutted as it's one of my favourite products EVER. Luckily someone on Twitter sold me theirs - thank you thank you thank you! It is the most gorgeous coral shade with a hint of frosty highlight on it - mmmm gorgeous!

eight - MAC All That Glitters eyeshadow - I love this pale gold shadow from MAC - it's frosty without the shimmer which I find hard to find in gold shadows. I tend to wear this most days as a base for my eyeshadow. I will definitely be repurchasing as soon as I can.

nine - MAC Sable eyeshadow - This is another of my favourite MAC shadows that I wear most days. This works really well as a colour to define your eyes - in the outer third (I love teaming this with All That Glitters, and then Mulch in the crease), but also works just as nicely over the whole lid. It's a velvet browny coppery colour. I rebought immediately. Can't do without it!

ten - Rimmel Flash Eyeliner - This is the first pen eyeliner I'd used and I loved it - it has a thin, pointed tip which makes getting to the inner corner of your eye easy, and wider for the wider part of your lid. It glides on without being 'wet' and doesn't drag your eye as you draw.

So there you have it - although I just realised I've missed one off! I think I'll have to start doing this monthly?!

I'd had a request to do more videos, so I've also done this as a video - if you'd like to watch, click below...

Hope you enjoyed! x

John Lewis Bloggers Nail Art Challenge

2012-01-31T12:05:00.000Z

I was contacted by someone from the John Lewis makeup team to ask if I'd like to take part in a nail art competition alongside some other bloggers. I am no nail artiste - and am in total awe of those that can do things like paint the whole cast of Sesame Street on their talons... I seem to be a bit shakey when it comes to the finer details on nails, and can just about manage a messy reverse manicure, as you may see later. I'm more a fan of 'random' nail art, as you may also see later!

All of the bloggers looks would be judged by someone from John Lewis, and the winner would win £150 John Lewis voucher - so of course, I said yes!

The polishes I was sent were Nails Inc - Trafalgar Square, a magnetic polish

YSL La Laque Polishes in 12 (Pure Pearl) and 19 (Fuchsia Pink)

and NARS Space Odyssey

We were told "Which polishes you use, how you use them and the number of looks you create is entirely up to you – you could even mix and match these with shades from your existing collection." So I decided to run with that, and try every kind of nail arty kind of thing I knew. I can tell you now, I have never painted my own nails so often in one day - but it was so much fun!

Excuse the iPhone pics coming up - but these are the different looks I did using these polishes.

I used the YSL No12 with microbeads to create this look:

I used YSL No19 with NARS Space Odyssey layered over the top and pulled off with lace for this look:

I used both the YSL polishes with my black striper and dotter to make leopard print nails for this look:

And again I used both the YSL polishes to make marbled nails for this look:

I used the Nails Inc Trafalgar Square for this, then used Nails Inc Whitehall for the ring finger accent for this look:

I used NARS Space Odyssey with the black striper and dotter and black diamantes to create this look:

And lastly, I used YSL No12 and newspaper to create these newpaper print nails:

And there you have it - that was pretty much my day in photos! I hope you like them... I think all the looks are pretty self explanitary, but if anyone would like a tutorial for any of them then just shout!

Let me know what you think of the looks I have done - and check out the other entries too - Lipglossiping has done a gorgeous valentines nail look, and I'm looking forward to seeing what The London Beauty Review and A Beauty Junkie in London do with their polishes. The deadline is today so their looks should be up by tonight at some point.

Thank you John Lewis, for this fab opportunity!

01/02/12 - edited to add - the deadline is now mid February due to the original deadline being unrealistic for some of the participants. I think I will leave my entries as is, but if anyone has any wonderful ideas for me to add to it please let me know :)

Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette Winner!

2012-01-31T11:19:00.001Z

Thank you so much to everyone that entered - it was such an overwhelming response - it took me forever to go through all the entries, definitely won't be doing that kind of thing manually from now on! Thanks to all my regular readers, and welcome to all the new ones. The lucky winner this time, as chosen at random by my daughter..... is........ 'Honey Go Lightly'. Massive congratulations Honey ;) hope you enjoy playing with your prize. I'm kinda jealous as I want one for myself haha.

For the rest of you, I shall start getting my thinking cap on for a prize for 1500 followers - so stay tuned for that, and if you have any ideas please let me know.

What's in my Glossybox?

2012-01-30T12:20:00.001Z

The January 2012 Glossybox arrived this morning - check out my video to see what was inside...

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What do you think of the contents? Did you get anything different in your box?

Sneakpeeq Giftcard Giveaway!

2012-01-29T17:20:00.000Z

The lovely people at sneakpeeq have given me a $25 giftcard to give to one of my readers. As it's an American site - I'm sorry, but this one is only open to those based in the USA. I don't want to deprive my followers of winning something if I'm offered it - so I hope the rest of you understand!

sneakpeeq is also giving away 20% off your next purchase just for entering, plus one winner will win the grand prize of a $25 gift card to use on their favorite food, style and home products.

There are a number of ways to enter this giveaway

You must click this link to join sneakpeeq - in doing so you will automatically be entered into the giveaway.
You can gain one extra entry by following @SuperGorgeous on Twitter and letting me know about it.
You may get another entry by tweeting about my giveaway and letting me know by commenting here. You could copy and paste into your Twitter box I've just entered the @Super_Gorgeous giveaway to win a sneaqpeek giftcard. You can too at http://www.supergorgeous.co.uk/2012/01/sneakpeeq-giftcard-giveaway.html
If you follow Super Gorgeous Blog on Facebook you can gain another entry by posting on Facebook about the giveaway and link to the Super Gorgeous Facebook page.
If you link to my giveaway on your blog sidebar and come and leave a comment telling me about it, you will gain three extra entries.
The winner will be selected at random and announced on 10th February.

Good luck! x

Nails of the Day - Nicki Minaj for OPI - Fly

2012-01-27T10:30:00.000Z

As promised, here is the other polish from the Nicki Minaj for OPI collection.

Fly is a very vibrant turquoise colour - I wouldn't say it was 'bright' as I have blue's much brighter - but it does pack a big punch!

The brush seemed wider than normal OPI pro-wide brushes, as was the case with Pink Friday. Because of this some of my nails were covered with just one swoop of the brush. It is a very opaque polish and not at all streaky.

I am a big lover of blue nail varnish - Fly is definitely on my 'like' list - but it has a lot of similarities to Ciaté Headliner which I already have in my collection.

What do you think?

Denman 'Kiss Me Quick' Brush

2012-01-26T13:05:00.001Z

How cute are these new brushes from Denman!?

The brush is the classic D3, which I think every household seems to own - but they have been jazzed up with a saucy lip print just in time for valentines day!

The brush is a nice weight which means easy work when it comes to taming the mane - and the rubber pad which holds the brush bristles in place is anti-static which is always a bonus. It has seven rows of bristles and a long handle which is good for control.

The Kiss Me Quick range consists of the red with black lip print like I have, pink with silver lip print, and black with red lip print - they are limited edition so if you fancy one, try to be quick!

I also couldn't resist the mini keyring version of the D3. It is sold as a keyring, but remove the keyfob part, and voila - you have a teeny child's brush! My daughter thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread and has been brushing her and her dolls hair non-stop since I gave it to her!

Are you a Denman fan? What do you think of the new brushes?

Trilogy Ultra Hydrating Face Cream

2012-01-25T12:09:00.000Z

I need to give a shout out to my new friend - Trilogy's Ultra Hydrating Face Cream.

When I was first sent this I was a little worried about trying it out - I have sensitive, spot prone, combination skin - and assumed that this would make my oily bits even oilier, so I put it away for when I was feeling very dry, or if I found someone else to test it out on.

A couple of weeks ago, I tested it for myself. I was feeling very dry.

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen me say that I had suddenly developed really dry, itchy and flaky eyelids. As well as this - I had a huge spot near my lip, and because of all the spot treatments I'd put on it, the whole area of skin had dried out and was beginning to flake. This was not me at my best!

I first used it at night in case it turned me into a shine-ball, but I need not have worried. Although it's incredibly rich and thick, it seems to moistuise my face in a 'dry' way if possible - not leaving any traces of dewiness.

It contains Manuka Honey, Evening Primrose and Coconut which all have great moisutrising and calming properties. Alongside the Lavender smell, it feels very soothing as it's applied.

My skin drank the moisturiser up immediately and by the following morning there were definite improvements. After one more day my flaky lids and lips were restored to their former glory - hurrah!

I have been so impressed with this face cream that I have started using it during the day as well as at night time, as a part of my daily routine. Make up looks great over it - it had occurred to me that foundation may slip off as it's so moisturising, but that's not the case.

As I mentioned earlier, I have combination skin, and because I use Retin-A I do get dry patches. Since using this, all my dry patches have completely vanished. If you suffer from dry bits on your face please please please, try to get your hands on this - it really worked miracles on mine!

Nails of the Day: Nicki Minaj for OPI - Pink Friday

2012-01-24T10:16:00.001Z

When I heard Nicki Minaj was doing a nail polish collection for OPI I couldn't wait to see the colours. They are inspired by her love of bright colours - and if her collaboration with MAC was anything to go by, this collection would be good too.

In the end I decided to buy just two of the six polishes - Pink Friday, and Fly - which I will swatch soon so stay tuned for that one.

My first thoughts as I was applying the polish was how wide the brush was - it seems a lot wider than the usual Pro-Wide OPI brush. The formula was very thick, and very opaque - one coat was more than enough to completely cover the nail (although in this photo I went with two - I can't not!)

I love the colour - it is almost a bright baby pink while staying milky, and reminds me of Hubba Bubba drink (who remembers that!?). It's similar to a few other pinks I have, but not identical - perhaps due to the blue tone in it.

I know I am going to give this a good run for it's money over the summer, but it's also the kind of shade you could wear in any season and get away with.

Do you like it? What are your thoughts on the rest of the collection?

St Tropez Perfect Legs Spray

2012-01-23T14:41:00.000Z

I went out wearing a dress and no tights at the weekend - brave in this weather? Well, yes! Brave to bear my pasty white pins? Not this time! Luckily, a new can of St Tropez Perfect Legs Spray had been waiting patiently for me to pluck up the courage to go tightless, and this weekend was the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

The can is a small, handbag sized affair, at only 75mls - this was enough for me to do my entire legs, and a little left over. If I'd have wanted to have taken it out with me for touch-ups it would've been the perfect size... but no touch-ups were needed.

I applied it as per the instructions - holding it 6 inches away from the skin and spraying it from thigh to ankle, then finishing with a light spray over the foot. I loved the way the spray worked just the same whether I was holding it upside down or the right way round, and came out as a nice evenly coated tan. Sometimes I got a little too close to my legs, resulting in a darker streak, so in those instances I rubbed it into my legs with a silicone glove on.

Another plus was the amazing smell. It smelled nothing like any fake tan I have ever used before, no burnt biscuits present, not a bearable smell, but actually rather nice!

Try to look at the leg to the left of the screen - the other leg has the sun shining on it so looks white in both before and after pics!

What I was left with was beautifully tanned, streak-free legs. I got dressed about an hour after I applied it, into skinny jeans - so I was a little worried this would interfere with the tan... it didn't. It was still perfect by the evening and all through the night. Even when someone *ahem* spilled a drink down my legs.

It is a little pricey at £10.00 a bottle, if you are only getting one nights use out of it. Perhaps I was a little spray-happy, and the average girl may get two nights-worth, or if you were only doing the bottom half of your legs... but still it's a lot I think. However, it totally saved my bacon (and outfit choice) for Friday night - and that, my lovelies, is invaluable! If I go out feeling confident in how I'm looking I tend to have a better night - and the Perfect Legs Spray certainly left me with no worries about my legs.

Have you tried St Tropez Perfect Legs Spray? What do you think? Would you pay that price?

Swarovski Necklace Giveaway!

2012-01-23T12:00:00.000Z

Hello all you lovely readers - hope you had fantastic weekends :)

I have been given a beautiful Swarovski teardrop pendant worth £50 to give away to one lucky follower. You may have seen it this week on the Birmingham Deals section of Groupon - they always have amazing jewellery deals on there!

Due to the recent success of my latest giveaway, and my mind boggling as to how long it's going to take me to pick a winner out of a hat, I have decided to give Rafflecopter a go for this one. It seems lot more logical! If anyone has any problems using it please let me know in the comments below.

Good luck!x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

label.m Brunette Dry Shampoo

2012-01-19T10:30:00.000Z

Most standard dry shampoos seem to be a white spray which can cause problems for those with brunette hair. The talcum-powder-in-the-hair look isn't in at the moment, so the darker haired people of the world are missing out on the power of dry shampoo!

More recently dry shampoos have come onto the market specifically for certain hair colours. label.m, which is part of Toni & Guy, has joined this list with their newly launched Brunette Dry Shampoo.

It comes in a 200ml, sleek looking aerosol spray can which is priced at £10.50. It's very easy to spray, from all different angles enabling you to get to your whole head of hair.

It can be used to refresh hair or styles in between washes, help absorb excess oil, or give your hair a bit of a lift. I purposely left my hair an extra day without washing to test it out.

The first thing you may notice is that my hair is a slightly different colour - this is due to the fact I'm not totally brunette, and this spray is brown in colour! I sprayed some onto the back of my hand to give you an idea.

I don't think this caused too much of a problem - as in, it doesn't look like that's not my natural hair colour because it blends in so nicely.

I sprayed it on the roots of my hair from the underneath right up to the top, in short, sharp bursts as recommended. I then sprayed all over the rest of my hair. The smell reminds me of spray tans but luckily that doesn't seem to last! It looked quite wet on my roots once it was sprayed on, but after about 20 seconds it was completely dry and left my hair looking normal.

It definitely left my roots with more volume and my hair looked a lot less skanky and greasy. Although I still feel like I need to give it a good wash, it will be useful in emergency situations!

label.m Brunette Dry Shampoo is available exclusively at Toni & Guy, essensuals, and specially appointed label.m salons worldwide. For more info check out their website www.labelm.com

Have you tried any dry shampoo for specific hair colours? What do you think of them?

Bag a free Stila Lipgloss!

2012-01-18T12:35:00.000Z

Freebie Alert!

To celebrate the launch of Stila at Harvey Nichols London, tomorrow (Thursday 19th January) you can get a free, full-sized Stila Lipgloss in the award winning nude shade 'Kitten' by taking any old tube of lipgloss to the Stila counter at Harvey Nichols London from 10am.

The Stila Steal make up amnesty is on for one day only - so make sure you put it in your diary and if you work nearby you have no excuse not to pop in to the Stila counter for this fantastic freebie!

How to: Depot Lipsticks

2012-01-17T13:57:00.002Z

Depotting lipsticks can be useful on both a professional and personal level.

When I've been working with make up, particularly at catwalk shows, it's really annoying to not be able to see all your shades of lipstick - having to turn them over to read the name, trying to remember the name and which shade that is and opening and closing loads of lids until you find something you're after. Having them depotted and in a palette means all your colours are there for you to see, and it's easy to show your client what colour(s) you are thinking of using.

On a personal level - this is a fantastic way to save a broken lipstick, or if you just fancy having a lipstick palette!

The most useful type of empty container to use seem to be pill boxes. I got this one from Muji to make this palette. I also have some of these which can be separated which I use for mixing lipsticks together, or if we are working as a team of make up artists and all need to use the same colour lipstick. These would be good for you to use for at home, as you can separate one of the compartments for handbag use! You can do this in empty lip-gloss type pots too.

So... first of all I chose which of my lipsticks I was going to put in my palette

Fact fans will want to know which lipsticks these are! They are all MAC and shades are as follows:

one - Rebel
two - Myth
three - Morange
four - Lovelorn
five - Patisserie
six - Shy Girl
seven - Vegas Volt
eight - Ravishing
nine - Half 'n' Half
ten - Chatterbox
eleven - Russian Red
twelve - Creme Cup

Twist out your lipstick as far as it will go, then using a scalpel or a knife, cut the lipstick off and into one of the compartments. If your cutting equipment is too large for this part you could use the end of a spoon to scrape out the rest of the product from the container.

Keep going until you have filled your palette, but make sure you lay down the empty containers in order so you know which lipstick is in which place!

You can peel the stickers off the bottom of the original packaging and put them on the palette under the corresponding lipstick, or make your own stickers.

You can leave your lipsticks like that, or if you'd prefer them to look a little neater, you can melt them in the microwave. I was a little sceptical of doing this, worried that it might mess up some of the formula, but after a little online research, and the fact that some of my tutors had done it, I decided to go for it.

I microwaved at 20 seconds at a time until the lipsticks were entirely liquid. I would recommend leaving the palette in the microwave for a while after to enable them to start to solidify to prevent any overspill.

I was too impatient, and got them out immediately - you can see the pink has spilled a little into the nude lipstick where I lifted them and the liquids were higher than the gap in the separator. I will scoop this out once it has hardened.

And there you have it!

Don't forget, if you do this with MAC lipsticks, to take your empty containers back to MAC for free lipsticks!

Hope this has been useful to someone - let me know how you get on! x

Bag a free Clinique Mascara!

2012-01-14T10:30:00.000Z

Starting from today, if you take any full-sized tube of mascara (it can be empty!) to a Boots Clinique counter, they will give you a free Clinique mascara in return.

You can choose from High Lengths (5ml) or High Impact (4ml) and will be available while stocks last - or 1st February if stocks last that long! I can imagine this is going to be very popular, so if you can, try today!

Happy Saturday! x

Liz Earle's Botanical Shine Treatment

2012-01-13T14:16:00.002Z

Liz Earle recently launched their Botanical Shine Treatment, an intense conditioning treatment for frizzy, dry, or very coarse hair.

I have very thick, coloured hair, and lots of it! I am constantly on the look out for products that will help to keep it well conditioned and make it more manageable when styling it, as it's one hell of a job to do!

You use the Botanical Shine Treatment in place of your conditioner, so to start with, shampoo as normal. I have been using Liz Earle's Botanical Shine Shampoo which for an SLS-free product I was extremely impressed with. Every SLS-free hair product I had used prior to this just didn't lather up no matter how hard I tried. This it was a different story - you'd never know it was SLS-free unless you'd read it on the packaging.

You then apply the Botanical Shine Treatment to your hair and leave it for 10-30 minutes while it does it's magic.

It is a thick white cream-feeling conditoner which has a refreshing citrus smell, and a slight hint of tea (I'm pretty sure there's no tea in it, but it smells like that to me!). It has naturally active ingredients of red algae, sumac wax, blue seakale and extracts of cotton, apple and orange. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I know what the benefits of those ingredients are, but the squeezy tube claims that it will leave hair frizz-free, shiny, tamed and manageable.

On rinsing the conditioner out I could instantly feel how much smoother my hair was. Brushing my hair was a dream - normally it's a tangled mess after a wash but when I use this treatment my brush just glides through.

I would normally add Moroccan Oil to my barnet at this point, but for the purposes of trialling this product I decided to see how it managed on it's own.

I dried my hair off with a hair drier, then straightened it using GHD flat irons.

My hair was frizz free and smooth, but best of all, it felt in fabulous condition. It didn't feel sleek enough for me to wear it down - it was a bit too big, so I tied it up after taking these photos but found I have been constantly touching my pony tail as my hair just feels so silky and nice!

My best swish...

...teehee, I don't really know how that came about, but I kinda like it!

So, in conclusion, if your locks need a bit of TLC then this would be the perfect little treat for your tresses. If your hair is lacking in condition - this will come to your rescue! It's available from lizearle.com or John Lewis for £14 for 150mls.

Have you tried any Liz Earle hair care products? What do you think of them? What do you use to get your wild hair under control!?

Nails of the Day - OPI Light My Sapphire

2012-01-12T12:19:00.001Z

This is one of the first OPI polishes I ever bought. I haven't worn it for years so I thought I'd dig it out and give it a little outing. Well, I don't know why I ever stopped wearing it, it's gorgeous!

It's an extremely dark blue polish that is very nearly black. In fact, in some lights it is black, but really it's blue (confused?!). There is the tiniest amount of shimmer in the polish that makes it almost metallic looking - it definitely doesn't look like a shimmery finish, but superbly glossy.

It is one of those OPI polishes that definitely needs a second coat - one layer is very patchy and sheer. I used two coats and a coating of Seche Vite and it has lasted for two days on me before getting a bit of wear to the tips of my nails.

What do you think? Do you like it?

Murad - Celebrate You! 'Embrace Balance' Skincare

2012-01-11T11:58:00.000Z

Last month Murad released their Christmas Kits - bargainous sets of skincare with big savings. I was sent the Embrace Balance box to try out.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I am quite particular about what I try on my face as it's very prone to spots, but after reading all the bumpf I was happy to give this a go. The back of the box filled me with hope with this statement 'Clear pores and embrace beautiful, radiant skin. Three simple steps balance oily and dry zones while removing dull, dry cells for skin that is smooth and shine free.' It sounded ideal for my skin - dry patches, oily patches and spotty patches (mmmmm).

The kit contains 50mls Pomegranate Cleanser, 60mls T Zone Pore Refining Gel (which is actually bigger than the full size 50mls worth £50!), 30mls Pomegranate Moisturiser SPF 15, and 2 Pomegranate Exfoliating Masks. I love the size of the bottles - they are perfect for putting in a wash-bag while traveling, or staying over at a friends house without having to scrimp on skincare during your stay. You'd think that they wouldn't last very long being these sizes, but I have been using these products religiously for around 4 weeks and they are all still at least half full.

The cleanser comes in a pump-bottle which dispenses it as foam. One or two pumps is enough to cleanse your entire face. I have been applying it to my face using my Clarisonic Mia. It has a light fruity, refreshing fragrance. It feels very light, and doesn't irritate my skin at all. At night I have been using a Simple facewipe to take off the bulk of my make up, then using the cleanser to remove all the rest of the grime and excess make up from my face. As I am using Retin-A I seem to need a bit of extra exfoliation for the dry patches, so I remove the cleanser using an Emma Hardie muslin and microfibre cloth.

The tip I have for the toner is not to use too much - a little goes a long way - half a pump is perfect for my face. It's a thin, runny, liquid, and on contact with my face feels a bit tingly. Not in an uncomfortable way - but like it's doing some work! It says that it 'balances oily and dry zones while gently exfoliating to remove dull, dry skin cells' which for me is key! The toner takes a few minutes to sink in as it's quite wet. Once it's dry I apply a thin layer of Retin-A to my face (obviously this is just an additional step as this is what my GP has prescribed to me!)

The moisturiser is gorrrrrgeous. It's oil free yet very moisturising. It's lightweight and is like an instant blanket of comfort over your face once you massage it in. It totally restores my face to a natural balance and doesn't leave me looking shiny, or feeling greasy.

I wouldn't say my skin is any better or worse since I have been using this range, but this in itself is a massive achievement. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that my skin will never be perfect, so the fact that these products could maintain the condition of my skin is fabulous!

If you're interested in this kit, it's only £39.50 from www.murad.co.uk and is actually worth £78. If you're looking to try a new regime, I would recommend Embrace Balance highly!

What's in my Feel Unique Beauty Box?

2012-01-10T12:26:00.000Z

I picked up my January Feel Unique box from the post office this morning... and I'm sad to say I am very disappointed! Check out what was inside by watching my video...

Would you have been disappointed too?

1000 Followers Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette Giveaway!

2012-01-07T17:16:00.002Z

Last week I reached 1000 GFC followers, a massive milestone in my books seeing as I started this little blog to amuse myself and keep my mind occupied after breaking up with my fiance. I want to thank each and every one of you for following, reading, commenting, messaging me - just for taking the time. Thank you SO much. To show my appreciation I have decided to give away an Urban Decay NAKED 2 eyeshadow Palette which isn't actually in stores until February in the UK. (Debenhams are selling them online exclusively until then if anyone else can't wait to get their hands on one)! As my followers come from all over the world, this is open to all of my followers worldwide.

There are a number of ways to enter this giveaway to win;

You must be a follower of my blog - either via GFC, Bloglovin' or Facebook - please state which.
You must leave me a comment asking to be entered. You will only be entered once via comments (i.e. if you comment 5 times you will still be entered once)
You can gain one extra entry by following @SuperGorgeous on Twitter and letting me know about it.
You may get another entry by tweeting about my giveaway and letting me know by commenting here. You could copy and paste into your Twitter box I've just entered the @Super_Gorgeous giveaway to win an Urban Decay NAKED 2 Palette! You can too at http://tinyurl.com/7oek878
If you follow Super Gorgeous Blog on Facebook you can gain another entry by posting on Facebook about the giveaway and link to the Super Gorgeous Facebook page.
If you link to my giveaway on your blog sidebar and come and leave a comment telling me about it, you will gain three extra entries.
The winner will be selected at random and announced on Tuesday 31st January. They will be contacted by email so please leave your email address with your comment.

Good luck, and thank you! x

Keromask Camouflage Cream

2012-01-06T14:16:00.000Z

I was recently introduced to Keromask Skin Camouflage Cream - a very welcome addition to my make up kit as it's fantastic at covering up most things - birthmarks, beauty spots, tattoos and scars. I worked on a music video last month where the lead singer had a double - so they had to look exactly alike. I spent an age covering up all the moles on her body with foundation, patting down then re-covering... I just wish I'd have known about this then!

Keromask comes in a 15ml bottle which has a twisty lid which you turn to reveal the pump - a design function I really like. It comes in 24 different shades and is only £14.99 and not only is it useful to those working in the make up industry, but if you have any marks on your face or body that you don't like to show then this could well be worth a try. You can buy sample kits from their website which will help you to make sure you're buying the right colour, or if you want to try before you buy.

So, for the big reveal. I borrowed my surprisingly willing boyfriend to try to show you the power of this stuff. He has a birthmark on his back, and a tattoo..

And another tattoo...

Unfortunately I did this in a mostly dark room so I couldn't tell that it wasn't properly rubbed in in the last photo until I came to look at them now on the computer! The birthmark - well, you'd never know it was there! The only thing with the tattoos is that you can see the raised edges, but I don't think it would be very noticeable from a distance.

There are some examples on the sample kit which shows some photos where it has dramatically transformed the appearance of two people...

You apply it as you would normal foundation and remove it with soap and water (or Keromask sell cleansing wipes) it is long lasting and 100% waterproof. For those with sensitive skin there's the reassurance it's hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested. We got it off his back using lots of baby wipes and in the end a bit of body oil to remove the remains - so it definitely does stay put once it's in place!

Keromask is available from their website www.keromask.com

I hope that this will help someone out there - please let me know if you end up trying it and the results you have from it, or similarly, if you're already using this - please shout! I'd love to hear how it's working for you.

Nails of the Day - Nails Inc Hampstead Gardens

2012-01-04T16:16:00.000Z

Nails Inc have come in with two new limited edition polishes this month - Hampstead Gardens, which I'm wearing today, and Holland Park Avenue - a browny taupe colour which looks rather gorgeous.

Hampstead Gardens is a true mustard colour, totally unique to my current nail polish collection.

You would be forgiven for thinking it looked a bit like the contents of a babies nappy, as I have to say that's what went through my mind as I was applying it. The more I've worn it though, the more it's grown on me.

I'm not much of a mustard fan yet to be honest, but if you are in the market for a mustard polish then I would definitely recommend this one. As I said above it is a true mustard colour, and it applies like a dream - opaque within one coat (although I did use two) and lasts well - I managed a whole morning of housework without a single chip!

As it's a bit of a brave colour to wear I think it may take me a bit longer to get used to it, but I'm sure you'll see me wearing it again at some point this year once the craze has hit me!

Also arrived this month is the A Listers Collection containing Lower Sloane Lane, Ledbury Road, Mayfair and Covent Garden Ballet.

That's also limited edition, so if you like the look of any of the polishes mentioned, get in there quick!

So - what do you think of mustard nail polish? Hit or miss?!

ModelCo Fibre Lash Brush on False Lashes

2012-01-03T18:43:00.000Z

As you may have gathered, I am quite a fan of eyelash enhancing products - mascaras, lengtheners and falsies; so when I was asked if I'd like to try out Model Co's Fibre Lash of course, I said yes. I'd heard lots of great things about it - it won Harpers Bazaar UK's 'Best Lash Secret' in 2011 and Boots sold 1 every 30 seconds when it launched in the UK.

Dannii Minogue, the ambassador for Fibre Lash says “I love my false lashes in a bottle – It is a beauty product that truly delivers on its promise! Every girl needs a Fibre Lash in their makeup kit, it’s your secret weapon for a flirty flutter. I have all of my friends and family hooked!”

I was intrigued.

It works in a way that I had never tried before. This is no mascara that claims to give you longer, thicker lashes. This contains actual lash fibres which you brush on before the mascara, which thickens your lashes before your eyes.

To use Fibre Lash you first brush on the Lash Fibres which feels so strange on your eyes. It's like getting cotton wool stuck to your eyelashes! You have to be careful when you apply them because it could be quite uncomfortable if you get the fibres in your eyes - although it's not harmful. You then apply the Extension Mascara as you would your usual mascara, and if you want longer and thicker lashes, keep repeating these steps. I did two applications in the photo below.

As you can see from the 'before' photo, I naturally have very short, fair eyelashes - which were changed dramatically with the Fibre Lash. I wouldn't say it's the most thick my lashes have ever looked, but there is an obvious improvement and they do look a lot longer than my current mascara makes them.

Fibre Lash stayed put all day, with no weird transferring business, and no panda eyes. It was removed easily with eye make up remover, and came off in little tube shapes where it had been coating each individual lash.

Thumbs up from me! What do you think? Have you tried it before?

ModelCo have just launched www.fibrelash.com - the new dedicated site for Fibre Lash, so they are offering an exclusive gift with purchase (while stocks last) - when you buy a Fibre Lash set (for £35) you will receive a free ModelCo Lip Luxue Duo set worth £120.

900 Followers Winner!

2012-01-02T19:00:00.002Z

I hope you all had lovely Christmases and are enjoying the new year so far. I am a bit late with announcing the winner of the 900 followers giveaway - bad planning on my part! Today is the first day I've been at home in a while, and able to have the time to fairly and randomly pick a winner.... and that winner isssss.....LILOO! I'm so pleased to have picked her out as I know she is a regular reader and supporter of the blog - congratulations liloo - you have won! x

Many thanks to all of you for entering, there'll be another giveaway at 1000 followers so stay tuned for that one! Happy new year to you all! Hopefully will be back in full swing at some point this week

Merry Christmas - You Are Not Alone

2011-12-24T21:43:00.001Z

I won't be around for much of the week so I wanted to wish all of my readers a very merry Christmas! I hope everyone has an amazing one.

Sadly, Christmas can be a hard time for some people... the lovely Kerrie from Big Fashionista has put together a list of useful numbers for those having a tough time over the festive period. You are not alone.

Contact details

MIND
www.mind.org.uk
0300 123 3393

Samaritans
www.samaritans.org
08457 90 90 90

Alcoholics Anonymous
0845 769 7555
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/newcomers

Stonewall
Info line 08000 50 20 20
www.stonewall.org.uk

London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard
0207 837 7324

SANELine
0845 767 8000
www.sane.org.uk

Preventing young suicide
www.papyrus-uk.org

For people in Northern Ireland
www.lifeline.info
0808 808 8000

Childline
www.childline.org.uk
0800 1111

Depressionalliance
www.depressionalliance.org

Refuge
www.refuge.org.uk
0808 2000 247

Eating Disorders Association
www.edauk.com
0845 634 1414

Shelter
www.shelter.org.uk
0808 800 4444

NHS Direct
www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
0845 4647

No Panic
0808 808 0545
www.no-panic.co.uk

Models Own Beetle Juice Collection

2011-12-22T10:32:00.001Z

When Models Own released their Beetle Juice Collection, I wasn't too sure. I ummed and ahhed, until, being the nail polish whore that I am, decided I had to have them - at which point the whole set was out of stock.... so I waited.... and waited... and here it is!

All of the colours have so many different dimensions to them that I have had to photograph them more than once to show you!

I'll add them in the order of the photo above. First up is Emerald Black. I thought this would be my least favourite of the collection but it's definitely one of the best in my books.

Most nail polishes that are dark green or purples tend to be black, or at least go black in some lights. This doesn't at all, it's always green, and that's why I love it. It's a really dark colour with the teeniest flecks of green micro-glitter in it. Sometimes it looks racing green, and sometimes teal. I've added a close up of one of my nails to demonstrate.

Pinky Brown is quite foil-like once it's on the nails. The pink is a raspberry purple shade, while the brown varies from golden to a lovely chestnut colour. It's one of the most multi-tonal of the whole collection.

Golden Green is exactly that - gold and green, except the gold was more of a green-tinged yellow.

I wasn't keen on this to be honest - a bit too 'snotty', so I tried some Barry M Instant Effects crackle polish over the top, and voila - I loved it!

My other favourite from the Beetle Juice collection is Aqua Violet. It's fairly metallic and is a true aqua blue colour. As you move your nails you see the most gorgeous soft purple colour. The two shades compliment each other perfectly.

Lastly was Purple Blue. I loved the colour that it went in the light, but the 'resting' colour of it I wasn't keen on. It looked like a browny purple with flecks of aqua glitter. In the light, it was like a petrol spill - multi coloured beautifulness.

So finally, better late than never - my swatch pics of the Models Own Beetle Juice Collection. I hope it has been useful to some.

What do you think of the collection?

Christmas Gifts from L'Occitane

2011-12-20T15:30:00.000Z

L'Occitane have brought out a range of limited edition gifts, which would be perfect for those last minute Christmas presents. I was sent a selection from the Délice des Fruits and Délice des Fleurs collections, of which I'm going to tell you about today!

Whenever I get new bath and body stuff, the first thing I do is have a little sniff.... OMG, this time I was in Heaven! The Citron & Clémentine range from the Délice des Fruits collection is absolutely divine. As the name would suggest, it is lemon and clementine, but not any old lemon and clementine. This is candied lemon and clementine, which evidently makes all the difference.

Although it's not a Christmas smell, the candle reminds me of walking through a Christmas market and past a sweet stall. It's the most amazing smell ever - I would happily burn this candle every day for the rest of my life, the smell is that good!

The rest of the products from the Délice des Fruits collection still have that amazing smell, but are slightly more citrusey than boiled sweets. I'm a big fan of citrus smells so these have been great for me too. The little tin of lip balm is dangerous - I want to eat it every time it goes near my lips! It contains almond oil so it's good at moisturising, and it leaves the lips with a sexy sheen.

I usually use liquid hand soap, so there has been something quite decadent about using a bar of soap! It is perfumed but not overpowering, and doesn't leave my hands feeling dry.

The Body Cream is gorgeous - it is nice and light, and while it has that nice smell, I like that fact that the smell isn't lingering for the entire day - I like people to be able to smell my perfume! It has a slight balmy consistency and sinks in to the skin fairly quickly.

The Délice des Fleurs collection is a different smell all together. Still sweet, but in a different way. Nothing how I'd expect 'Rose & Violette' to smell - none of that classic 'rose' scent... but more like the very sweet aroma of berries. Apparently it is candied rose and violet petals. The fragrance is a little too sweet for me, but I can imagine my teenage sister being a fan.

The perfume comes in a 75ml glass bottle which is so pretty and elegant. The soft purple colour of the fragrance adds to the gorgeousness of it, it would look fab on display in a bathroom. There is also a little tin of solid perfume which is an ideal size to carry in your handbag to freshen up with during the day or a night out.

I used the shower jelly on a bath pouf, and while it wasn't extremely bubbly there was enough lather there to wash my body with, and again, it looks great on display.

If you like sweet smells - like Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, I think you'd really like the Rose & Violette range.

The lip glosses from this collection, I will definitely use. I'd say they were more lip tints or balms than glosses as my lips weren't left overly shiny after using them. They come in a little tin perfect for the handbag - Rose is pinky, like a just-bitten lip, and Violette is dark purple, which reminds me of a softer version of MAC's Rebel lipstick. They both leave the lips feeling very soft, like they're doing some good while looking good! I think it would be advisable to use a brush to apply them for more of an even look. I used my fingers for the photos below - so it's not like you have to use one, but it would look more polished.

The products are available from the L'Occitane website, while you're there have a go at decorating a Christmas tree and you'll get a complimentary 75ml Fleur Cherie body lotion.

L'Occitane is also available in stores - have a look here to see where your local one is, or in selected department stores.

What's in my Joliebox?

2011-12-17T14:45:00.003Z

Today I received my first ever Joliebox - which as of December is the new box from the Boudoir Privé team. Check out the video to see what was inside...

Let me know what you think and if you got anything different!

Whats in my Glossybox?

2011-12-15T13:32:00.002Z

I got my December Glossybox today - I made a video showing what was inside...

Let me know your thoughts, and if you got anything different!

Sanctuary's Ultimate Facial in-a-Box

2011-12-14T12:48:00.001Z

If you're stuck for a Christmas gift, let me recommend the Ultimate Facial in-a-Box from Sanctuary.

The box opens out to reveal everything you need for an at-home facial including some award winning products, and step by step instructions on how to carry out a facial at home.

Inside the box is Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser, Muslin Cloth, Warming Microbrasion Polish, Therapist Secret Facial Oil, 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask, Lift & Brighten Eye Complex and Stop The Clock Moisturiser.

The Mircrobrasion Polish feels gorgeous - a thick consistency with ultra fine particles in it, perfect for sloughing off those dead skin cells. The Cleanser contains chamomile which smells beautiful and is so calming to the skin, while the Moisturiser smells refreshingly citrusey.

There is enough in the box to give yourself more than one facial, at the fraction of the cost of what a facial at a beauticians would cost. This pack cost £20 at Boots and is part of the Christmas 3 for 2 promotion.

I think it's great that there are proper, thorough instructions with how to use the products and in which order. For someone that isn't au fait with the likes of facial oil, it's ideal!

So, that's my little tip of the day for a nice easy, pampering Christmas present - hope you like it!

If you have any Christmas tips to share, please do so below!

What's in my Feel Unique Box?

2011-12-13T12:42:00.000Z

I picked up my December Feel Unique Beauty Box today - I made a little video showing what was inside and my thoughts on it. If you'd like to check it out, click play below

What do you think?

Nails of the Day - Models Own Pink Fizz

2011-12-12T17:56:00.000Z

I had a bit of a spree on the Models Own website last week, and this was one of the beauties I picked up.

I'm not normally a massive glitter fan, but I must be feeling festive - and something about this enticed me in!

From looking at the bottle it looks as though it is the kind of glitter you'd put over another polish - i.e. like it's quite sparse, however two coats of Pink Fizz covered the entire nail in gorgeous glitter. It is pale pink, which is almost silver in some lights. It leaves the nails with a metallic finish, which when you look closer, can tell it's glitter - not overly multi sparkly glittery nails, which for me is a plus point!

I've had it on for 2 days now, and there is some wear to the tip of the nails, but another fab thing about this polish is no one would ever know mwhahahaha.

What do you think? Yay or nay?

Deal Finding with Groupon

2011-12-12T13:07:00.003Z

If you don't know about Groupon yet, you need to get to know! It's fabulous for getting discounted beauty appointments, days out and spa trips specific to your area, but what a lot of people don't realise is that they also offer really cheap national deals on beauty products like hair straighteners, teeth whitening kits and jewellery.

Just looking through the 'todays deals' section of Groupon site today you can see a selection of great products on offer. The one that jumps out at me is 77% off a set of fresh water pearl earrings.

The nature of Groupon means that the deals change every day, meaning that even if you’re not interested in earrings, tomorrow there may be a beauty product that’s exactly what you’ve been looking for.

And don’t be shy to check around the site for deals in other cities except your own. Sometimes the deals for one particular place can be relevant to where you are. So even if you live in London, have a look at deals in Liverpool or deals in Nottingham or deals in absolutely anywhere and you’re bound to find something of interest.

Happy deal finding!

Sponsored post

Nails of the Day - Nails Inc Whitehall

2011-12-09T11:28:00.001Z

Nails inc have recently added three magnetic polishes to their range - Whitehall, which is the gorgeous teal colour I am showing below, Trafalgar Square - silver and Houses of Parliament which is metallic purple.

This was the first time I had applied magnetic polish by myself - you have to paint your nails with one coat of the polish - which is very opaque, my nails were completely covered with that one coat. You then go back and apply a generous amount of polish to a nail, then hold the magnet (which in this case is on top of the lid) over your nail for 10-15 seconds to let the magnet do it's magic. It's really rather easy - a lot easier than the finished effect looks!

I wore this polish to a catwalk show I was doing the make up for, and literally every person that came into contact with me asked me what I was wearing on my nails, wanted to see it closer, promised they were going to go and get some as they were so in love with it! I have to agree that it is pretty amazing. Not only is it metallic, but it has an almost holographic, iridescent quality to it - there is so much depth to be seen. My nails were left extremely glossy and were evidently very noticeable!

You can purchase these polishes at www.nailsinc.com for £13 each - nails inc are donating £1 from each sale of magnetic polish to youth charity The Princes Trust.

Have you tried magnetic polish yet? What do you make of it!?

AOFM Week Three

2011-12-08T13:36:00.001Z

Thank you very much to the person that reminded me yesterday I hadn't written up week three of my course at AOFM (Academy of Freelance Makeup)!

So... on the Saturday at the end of week two we'd completed the make up part of the course. On the Sunday I had my photoshoot. This is included as part of the course - you get to make up two models - one has to be a natural look, which would be used as a beauty shot, and other had to be an editorial look, but nothing to 'out there'!

We had a week to plan and make mood boards, so by the time the day came round we knew what we were doing. We had our photoshoots in groups of 6, so it wasn't too crowded in the rooms we were working in. We didn't know which model we would get - just whoever sat at our stations first! All of the models were gorgeous, but I was really happy with the two I got!

We had a hair stylist working with us - Jan Prezemyk, who asked what kind of thing we wanted, asked what kind of clothes we had chosen (we had a stylist and a big rack of clothes to choose from) and he then created a hair style based on that. We then went and shot the photos in one of the rooms that had been converted into a studio for the day, with photographer Lou Denim.

We had 45 minutes to create each look...

For my editorial look I went with smokey eyes and nude lips.

And for my beauty shot I tried to make it look like my model wasn't wearing too much make up, while enhancing her natural good looks.

On the Monday, we started learning about hair. We had a different teacher on each day, again, which was really interesting as we got the chance to find out different tips and tricks that each of them had. Our teachers during the week were Jan Prezemyk, Desmond Murray, Ben Gregory, Chrysostomos Chamalidis and Simon Maynard. We learned a variety of stuff but a lot of it was aimed at the editorial route.

We learned about the products and what they did, how to reate texture, how to blow dry properly, how to section, how to curl using rollers (wet set, directional set, and brickwork), GHDs, curling tongs, tin foil and wands. How to get wavy hair, how to get mad crazy hair, how to give someone with straight hair an afro, how to crimp, back comb, finger wave, and make dread locks.

We learned hair up styles - pony tails, low bun, chignon, a bun, how to use padding and nets, how to create volume on the top, putting hair into a bow shape, a french pleat, onion hair, glam big hair, fishtail plait, rikracking, sleek hair, and how to apply extensions.

On the Saturday we had to take in an image we wanted to recreate, which we did under the guidance of our tutor.

Here are a few pictures of some of the things I did in hair week:

I feel like I learned a lot, but as I had absolutely no hair experience before I found it quite a lot to take in. I have written a zillion notes so I plan to buy a dummy and practise at home.

AOFM do offer a fourth week, which I decided not to do - it covers nails and air brushing, which I couldn't really justify the cost of learning about to be honest! So at the end of the Saturday, we all graduated. We were given a certificate and had a 5 minute feedback session each - we all had champagne and chocolates and said goodbye to one another. Working with people in such an intense environment for three weeks solid created some really good friendships and it was hard to say goodbye! We've created a Facebook group so we can keep up with what each other are doing - in the 4 weeks since we graduated we have been busy! Two of the girls are working for MAC, one for NARS and one for Chanel. Another is working for an agency which provides luxury department stores with make up artists. Others are doing their own thing, getting shoots organised and trying to build their portfolio.

Once you graduate from AOFM it acts as an agency, posting jobs on it's Facebook page which the graduates of the three and four week classes are invited to apply to. I have done some amazing jobs through them - Profile 2011, The Ideal Christmas Home Show, Fashion In Style, Sheer Cover launch and I assisted the amazing Yin Lee on a music video. If you'd like to keep up with my journey as a make up artist, please 'like' my personal Facebok page.

Also on offer to graduates are the free aftercare Masterclasses. I attended a MAC Masterclass at the MAC training centre which was learning about the new season catwalk trends, and a Dior Masterclass where Dior PRO artist Jamie Coombes gave a stunning make up demonstration and showed us the new seasons products about to launch, and we had a chat with Lisa Oxenham, Beauty Editor of Marie Claire magazine, about what she looks for when hiring a make up artist, the trends from fashion week, and her advice for us.

I think the aftercare is one of the best things that sets AOFM apart from all the other make up schools. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to do a make up course.

Elegant Touch - Classic French Nails

2011-12-07T12:24:00.001Z

The last time I wore false nails I was a teenager. I used to think they looked so cool, but one would always pop off that very same night, leaving me looking a little less cool. As I've got older, technology has progressed, but I've always been a bit worried about falsies ruining my nails.

I was offered the chance to try out the Elegant Touch UV Gel Coat Infinity Nails, so I decided I'd try them out - and if they lasted more than one night, I wouldn't keep them on too long, just in case my real nails were suffering.

I was sent the Classic French design, in short, which I was pleased with - Ive never been able to master the French manicure freehand! The nails are now coated in UV gel which supposedly gives hard wearing, chip free manicures that are super shiny!

There are 24 nails in the packet, made up of 10 different sizes, which you have to match up with your own nails before you start sticking them on. I have quite long, thin nails, so I found it a little more tricky to find the right sizes to fit my fingers, but I used the closest matches I could find. There is also a little nail file in the pack, and a 2ml tube of nail glue.

The glue is very, very sticky! As I was pressing one nail down for the required 5 seconds, I managed to stick my thumb to one of my fingers - which was really hard to separate! I did end up with glue on quite a lot of my fingers, but luckily I had some acetone so got it off without too much effort.

All in all it took about 10 minutes to apply the nails, and I was left with super looking nails! While I wore them, I had lots of comments as to whether they were my own, and how good they looked. When you looked closely you could see a few gaps where they weren't shaped perfectly for my nails - but I think they did a very good job!

It felt strange to see my fingers so nude, as I am constantly painting them an array of colours, but I did like the effect.

The good news is that they didn't fall off after one night! Or two, three or four! In fact, I had to take them off on the fifth day as I was worried about my real nails and also was itching to give them a splash of colour!

They can only be removed with acetone, which took a little while longer than I thought, but my real nails were fine under there. If I'd have wanted to wear them for longer I definitely could - they were stuck firmly on!

The nails themselves still looked in excellent condition after the five days - no signs of wear and tear, and the white tip was still looking pristine. If you are in the market for a set of french manicured false nails, I would definitely recommend these.

Do you like false nails? Have you tried these?

900 Followers Giveaway!

2011-12-07T11:01:00.001Z

This is my 200th post, how exciting! Double celebration as I hit 900 followers on GFC this morning... definitely time for a giveaway! As always, thank you all so much for following, and taking the time to read my posts and commenting - muchos love!

This time you can win:

Benefit - Watt's Up! highlighter
Models Own - 3 in 1 base / top coat and gloss
Models Own - black eyeliner pencil

There are a number of ways to enter this giveaway to win;

You must be a follower of my blog - either via GFC, Bloglovin' or Facebook - please state which.
You must leave me a comment asking to be entered. You will only be entered once via comments (i.e. if you comment 5 times you will still be entered once)
You can gain one extra entry by following @SuperGorgeous on Twitter and letting me know about it.
You may get another entry by tweeting about my giveaway and letting me know by commenting here. You could copy and paste into your Twitter box I've just entered the @Super_Gorgeous giveaway to win Benefit's Watt's Up! & Models Own goodies. You can too at http://tinyurl.com/bvrv2rf
If you link to my giveaway on your blog sidebar and come and leave a comment telling me about it, you will gain three extra entries.
The winner will be selected at random and announced on Thursday 29th December. They will be contacted by email so please leave your email address with your comment.
This giveaway is open to my followers all over the world - GOOD LUCK!

What's in my November Boudoir Privé Box?

2011-12-05T11:48:00.001Z

Unfortunately my November Boudoir Privé box got lost in the post - so I'm a bit late with my video. I have had a replacement sent out - check out my video if you'd like to see what was inside, my thoughts, and some news about Boudoir Privé...

A813 Cheap Eyelashes!

2011-12-03T17:41:00.001Z

If you want to add a little bit of oomph to your lashes without looking ridiculously over the top, then feast your eyes on these little beauties! The A813 lashes from KKcenterHk are made to look rather natural, but give a definite change in appearance to my eyes.

They come with a very long band, which has to be cut - they are still too large for my eyes once that's off, so I cut them from the shorter side; leaving the longest lashes to create the drama at my outer eyes. You could cut them to size from the longer end if you wanted to use them in more of a subtle way.

They come in packs of 10 - which only costs £4.98 - that's around 50p per pair and they're resuable! Registered air mail from Hong Kong is only £1.87 and you'll get your package within 3-5 working days. I seriously can't rave about this website enough! I am always a bit wary of buying things from international websites, especially when the English on it isn't 100%, but I want to assure you that it is completely genuine and I have been thrilled with all the lashes I have had from them.

The lovely people at KKcenterHk have given me a 10% discount code for my readers to use on their site - perfect timing to get in your holiday lash wardrobe! Just enter BLGB268SU10 at the checkout - this is valid until 28th February.

Let me know what you get!

My Nail Polish Collection and Storage

2011-11-25T09:43:00.001Z

I've had a few requests to show you my collection of nail varnish - so here it is.

Well, most of it! There are some missing I'm sure - off the top of my head Orly Fancy Fuchsia, Butter London Aston, Models Own Red Alert, Nails Inc Jermyn Street and Barry M Nail Effects.... perhaps my sneaky sister 'borrowed' some last time she was babysitting. At least I hope that's where they are!

I also have a basket of polishes that I don't wear as often - mostly Spectacular and old school Max Factor - my obsession started when I was young!

Let's start with the OPI polishes:

L-R: DC Cherry Blossom, Shorts Story, Sparrow Me The Drama, Mod About You, Got a Date To-Knight, I Pink I Love You.

L-R: Lincoln Park After Dark, William Tell Me About OPI, DS Extravagance, Lucky Lucky Lavendar, Do You Lilac It, Rumple's Wiggin'.

L-R: Light My Sapphire, Yoga-Ta Get This Blue, Ogre-The-Top Blue, Ski Teal We Drop, Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow.

L-R: Tickle My France-y, Steady As She Rose, Get Me To The Taj On Time, Sweet Heart.

L-R: Unknown (does anyone know what this is?!), Cajun Shrimp.

Sephora By OPI:

L-R: I'm With Brad, Special Request, Dark Room, Casting Call.

China Glaze:

L-R: Emerald Sparkle, For Audrey, Sea Spray, Pelican Gray.

L-R: Midnight Ride, First Mate, Below Deck, Flip Flop Fantasy (this is briiiiiiiight neon orange so doesn't photograph well)

Essie:

L-R: Sew Psyched, Smokin' Hot, Merino Cool, Cute As A Button, Angora Cardi, Van D'Go, Not Just a Pretty Face.

Ciaté:

L-R: Ghetto Fabulous, Wait Until Dark, Headliner, Refresher.

L-R: Kitten Heels, Mistress, Access All Areas, Lemon Sherbert.

Revlon:

L-R: Passion Fruit, Bubblegum, Mad About Mango, Peach Smoothie, Ocean Breeze.

L-R: Revlon Red, Cherries In The Snow, Tropical Temptation, Purple Petal, Lilac Pastelle, Blackest Black.

Bourjois:

L-R: 11, 21, 22, 19, 12.

L-R: Cerise Noir 36, Rouge Escarpin 10, 8, 1.

Nails Inc:

L-R: Victoria, Picadilly Circus, Shoreditch, Copa Cabana, South Molton Street, Electric Teal.

Barry M:

L-R: Cobalt Blue, Bright Purple, 119, Coral, 278, Mushroom.

No 7:

L-R: Betty Blues, Vivid Violet, Violetta, Me! Me! Me!

Jessica:

L-R: Raspberry, unknown, unknown, unknown.

Ted Baker:

L-R: No official names, but I like to call them Red, Plum, Taupe and Blue!

Orly:

L-R: Rio Nights, Unknown, Life's A Peach.

Butter London:

L-R: Snog, Jaffa, Refresher.

Nubar:

L-R: Raspberry Truffle, Swiss Chocolate.

Zoya:

L-R: Audrina, Tao.

FashionistA:

L-R: Forever Is Blue, Purple Me Up

Models Own:

L-R: Champagne, Jade Stone.

Odd ones...

L-R: Chanel Lotus Rouge, NARS Purple Rain, Illamasqua Harsh, Leighton Denny Hanky-Panky, Color Club Gimme A Grape Big Kiss

L-R: Rimmel Mover, Topshop AWOL, Accessorize Electric Purple, Sephora Curacoa, Collection 2000 French White, L'Oreal 402.

I haven't included any of my base and top coats - but just for reference, at the moment I'm using Nailtiques Formula 2 as a base and Seche Vite as a top coat. I also use OPI Avoplex.

To store all these polishes I use 2 boxes from The Really Useful Box Company, which I bought at Hobbycraft. They are divided into 16 sections, which I use to store my polish in colour groups. They stack on top of each other nicely and the polishes fit in perfectly!

If you think there are any must-have nail polishes that I'm missing, please let me know! If there are any polishes you'd like me to swatch, please tell me which in the comments box below. Don't forget to check out my ongoing collection of nail polish swatches over at the Facebook page.

How I Got Clearer Skin

2011-11-24T13:31:00.001Z

I have suffered with bad skin for most of my life. My GP put me on Dianette contraceptive pill at the age of 14, to help my skin, and a big bottle of the stuff surgeons use to 'scrub up' before an op, to use as face wash. I couldn't cope with the orange liquid, but the pill was easy enough to take, and within a couple of years I had clear skin.

I came off the pill to have my children and it has never gone back to how it was... I ended up with teenage skin. I tried the pill, but it didn't have any effect on my skin. My doctor suggested I switched contraception as I had been using Dianette for so long, and seeing as it wasn't helping my skin there was no advantage to using it. The new contraceptive had acne as a known side effect. Great!

Luckily I had just been contacted by a very lovely lady at Azani Medical Spa asking if I would like to try one of their products. We entered into an email conversation - the more I told her about my skin the more it became evident there was no point in me using this one product without the others as it would probably do nothing for me. She gave me a free email consultation (which is available to everyone via their site) and I sent some photos of my bare skin.

Dr Monica Gavin recommended a series of products to me and told me that I'd need to use them in conjunction with each other. I have to admit it did cross my mind that this was a scam, to get me to spend lots of money at their store! I couldn't find much on Google about their products, but in the end I decided to take the chance, and I think it was one of the best decisions I could have made!

I have used the products for roughly 2 months, which is how long it took me to use up one bottle of each of the products. You'll have to excuse the battered packaging; it's been well used!

The products I was recommended and used, were:

Salicylic Face & Body Wash (180ml / $28.50) - I used a gentle face wipe (i.e. Simple) to remove my make up before using this. It works like any other cleanser - massage it over your face and rinse off with cool water. It contains 2% Salicylic Acid which calms skin irritations, improves the look of fine lines and is effective for clearing acne and dry skin conditions. It felt gentle on the skin and didn't smell of much. I now use the Emma Hardie muslin cloth to remove this to help buff away my flaky skin (more on that later!)

AHA Clarifier (50ml / $30) - This contains 12% Glycolic Acid and botanicals to adbsorb excess oils, clear skin and improve the appearance of pores on oily skin. It recommends applying with a cotton pad but I felt I wasn't getting enough of the product on my skin so I used my fingers. There's a warning on the bottle that your skin might find this hard to tolerate, in which case to rinse it off for the first couple of weeks, but my skin was fine.

Oil Free Moisturizer (50ml / $45) - This is a fab moisturiser that leaves my skin feeling hydrated without it being oily. It feels very light and make up goes on well over it.

Pumpkin Clarifying Mask (50ml / $37.50) - This mask is meant to be used a few times a week (I alternated it with the other mask). It is supposed to help loosen blackheads and whiteheads, leave your skin super-clean and looking smoother and clearer. It smells slightly of cinnamon, and goes see through as it dries. You rinse it off after 5 to 20 minutes, and your skin really does feel smooth afterwards.

Antioxidant Soothing Mask (50ml / $37.50) - This mask reduces redness and inflammation, heals blemishes and absorbs excess oil. It contains clay, Alpha Lipoic Acid, 105 Sulphur, and Grapefruit extract. It has a slightly powdering smell but nothing unbearable. It dries white on the skin and after 20 minutes it feels rather tight, but my skin felt great once I rinsed it off. I always made sure I applied an extra pump of moisturiser after using this!

Dr Gavin had also recommended that I visit my GP to ask for some things only available on prescription - antibiotics and topical retinoids. By the time I got to see my doctor I'd been using these products for about 4 weeks - my skin had improved so much that I was refused the antibiotics. I had to plead to be given Retin-A gel, which I got given in the lowest dosage of 0.025%.

This is a very powerful product which must be used very carefully! You need literally a pea sized amount to cover your face, but be warned, it is very drying! Before I started using it I did a bit of online research and saw a lot of people saying that their skin got a lot worse before it got better, but telling everyone to stick with it because the end results will be worth it.

Luckily I didn't suffer any of those results but my skin has gone very flaky around my nose and chin. In my next order from Azani I will buy their Micro-Buff Creme ($52.50) to help get rid of those patches. In the long run I'd rather have the flakes than the spots, so I'm bearing with it!

Using these products has improved my skin so much, that I recommend anyone with problem skin to get a free consultation from Azani Medical Spa. Although I have a bit of scarring still, I know that will fade in time. It's so lovely to wake up and not have a new spot to have to deal with every day! I do still get the occasional spot, but it's so much smaller and is gone so much quicker. I wish I had known about these products years ago!

I had had a few requests on YouTube for a skincare video, so have also recorded a video about these products. If you'd like to watch it, click play below!

Azani Medical Spa can be found at http://www.azanimedicalspa.com/home.htm

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this!

Nails of the Day: Chanel - Lotus Rouge

2011-11-23T11:43:00.001Z

This is the one and only Chanel nail polish I've ever owned... I got it as a Christmas present a few years ago and it's still going strong.

Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour Lotus Rouge (455) is a dark blood red colour which looks fab in the cooler months and is flattering to lots of skin tones. Due to the blue undertones in it, it even works for very pale skin which can sometimes find reds hard to pull off. For some reason I keep likening my nail polishes to food recently.... so just to keep up the tradition, this reminds me of tomato chutney!

The brush is fairly thin - personally I prefer a wider brush, although this does help to be able to get right to the edges of the nail accurately. I painted this on yesterday and while it mainly looks good, there is a slight bit of wear to the tip of the nail. In general I find it takes a couple of days for any chips to appear, which on my nails, is the sign of a good nail polish!

Do you like it? Which other Chanel polishes would you recommend to me?

Ballerina Brand False Eyelashes - CM425

2011-11-22T14:18:00.001Z

These are more of the ever so vauable false eyelashes from kkCenterHK.com. This time is the CM425 lash by the brand Ballerina. You get 10 in a pack, for $13.90, which by my calculations, makes them about 88p per pair. Yes, 88p per pair, annnnnd they're actually really good lashes!

I have never used a criss-cross style of lash before, so was really interested to see what they looked like once they were on. They were a little too long for my eyes, so I cut them down leaving the longest lashes at the outer corner of my eye. I found them fairly stiffly routed in their curved position they'd been packaged in, but once you give them a firm wiggle they're much easier to work with.

Although they are obviously false, I think they look fairly natural as they are not super-thick.

What do you think?

KKCenterHK is based in Hong Kong, but they ship internationally cheaply - the highest shipping cost works out at around £3.75 for delivery within 2 to 3 days! They sell all different types of lashes as well as these, but I would highly recommend the CM425.

What's in my Glossybox?

2011-11-21T12:49:00.001Z

My November Glossybox arrived this morning - check out my video to see what's inside mine and my verdict

What do you think?

Glossybox for Men

2011-11-19T11:00:00.000Z

You must all know what Glossybox is by now - I bang on about it enough! Well, they've just announced the launch of their Glossybox for men! Instead of being a monthly £10 subscription, the men get a box once every three months and pay £15 (+P&P).

In the box will be 7 luxury sized samples apparently tailored to them. If the man in your life is rather fond of dipping into your goodies, this may be the perfect Christmas present - the gift that keeps on giving!

Click here to find out more and subscribe.

Nails of the Day: Bourjois '10 Day' Nail Polish - 19

2011-11-18T16:58:00.001Z

I recently won a lovely bundle of Bourjois goodies from a giveaway that Simone Loves Make Up was having and part of the prize were some of the new 10 day nail polishes, which I was eager to try. A nail polish you can find on the high street that lasts for 10 days?! Tell me more!

The packaging would lead you to believe that the polish lasts for 10 days - what with the big '10 days' labelling on the bottle, however if you read the small print you will see that it says 'up to' before that, and on the back of the bottle it says that it lasts for 3 days minimum. It also says that the brush is perfect for touch ups... so I believe they are expecting it to chip, but because of the new shaped brush, claim it's easy to correct.

While we're on the subject of the brush, can I just give it a 'wow'?! I l-o-v-e it! It's really wide, with a slanted edge - the longer side enables you to get right down into the sides of the nails without getting it all over your skin, and I imagine it is also good for touching up chips, which you would definitely need if you wanted to keep it on for 10 days - mine only lasted for 2 before the tipwear began and on day 3 it's had to come off because of the chips.

The colour I tried out first was shade 19

It is a raspberry coloured polish which is totally opaque and really would have been fine with just the one coat. I have had lots of comments about how pretty it is - and off the top of my head I can't think of another polish I have like this, which is a rarity!

If Bourjois hadn't made such high claims about the new formula being 'anti-chip' I wouldn't have had a bad word to say about this nail varnish - it goes on well and lasts as long as any other normal polish. I really hope the brush is here to stay!

Have you tried any of these nail polishes? How long did they last on you?

L'Occitane Precious Eye Balm

2011-11-17T20:53:00.001Z

If you're a follower of my blog you may know that I'm really bad when it comes to caring for my eyes. I am meant to wear glasses which I often forget to do, which has resulted in years of squinting to see the computer, books and tv; and therefore has left me with wrinkles under my eyes.

I was thrilled when L'Occitane's Precious Eye Balm landed on my doorstep. It comes in a glass blue jar with a silver lid - looking very luxurious on the bathroom shelf! Inside is 15ml of the balm - which contains immortelle essential oil and cell extracts which apparently work together to help smooth wrinkes and give you firmer, younger looking skin. A mighty big claim if you ask me!

The instructions on the jar say to use every morning and or evening... I have been using it every morning and evening since I have had it, by smoothing it on under the eye area. There was about 6 weeks worth of product in there doing it that way - so you could easily make it last for a few months if you used it once a day.

The balm itself feels like a very light moisturiser but definitely has a balmy feel to it. It sinks into the eye area quickly - you don't have to leave a big gap between application and putting on your make up which is always a bonus.

While I was using it, I have to say I didn't really notice much of a difference - but as I used my last bit of it last night, I took a photo this morning then dug one out from September... using the eye balm for around 6 weeks. Here are the before and afters...

I was amazed at the difference! I can assure you these photos have not been altered in any way. There is such a visible difference that I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone looking for a wrinkle reducing product. I am now really interested in seeing what the rest of the Immortelle range does - perhaps I could look 18 again?!

Have you tried any of the range and can give me any recommendations?

Seeing as we're on the subject of L'Occitane... I found this video and thought you guys might be interested. I'd always wondered (and always got it wrong!)

Admit it, who else has been getting it wrong!?

Free Models Own Lipgloss

2011-11-16T10:00:00.000Z

Models Own have just released a new range of lip glosses in conjunction with Diet Coke - the Christmas Kiss Collection. You can pick up one of the four shades Pure Plum, Lacquer Red, Glossy Pink and Golden Nude, worth £6, for free when you buy two bottles of 500ml Diet Coke from Boots from today until 27th December.

Bargaintastic!

Free nails inc Polish with Glamour Magazine - Victoria

2011-11-14T16:37:00.001Z

You gotta love it when a magazine freebie is something good. nails inc seem to collaborate at least once a year with Glamour magazine, and it's that special time of year once again. When you buy the December issue for £2 (with Kristen Stewart on the cover) you get a free nails inc nail polish, which would normally cost £11.

There are a choice of four shades - Victoria, Tate, Picadilly Circus or Basil Street.... or you could go for all four! I was fairly restrained and just got the one - I picked up Victoria which is a very deep cherry colour that is almost brown. It's fairly similar to an OPI polish I have - William Tell Me About OPI. It reminds me of the colour of barbeque sauce!

As with all nails inc polishes, it goes on well and lasts a while before it starts to chip. I'd thoroughly recommend everyone to take advantage of this offer, especially if you've never tried nails inc before; there's never been a better time to try!

Which polish did you get?

OCC Lip Tar - NSFW

2011-11-11T11:12:00.001Z

NSFW by OCC (Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics) is my favourite red lip product I have ever used. Michelle Webb introduced me to it while on my make up course, and I fell in love!

OCC is an American company but there are now a few places in the UK which sell it. I got mine from Love Makeup for £8.99 and was really impressed with their service - it arrived the next day and with it's own little lip brush.

There is only 8ml of product in the tube, but I doubt it will ever run out. You need the absolutely tiniest amount to cover your lips, about 1/4 of a pea sized dot did mine - and I have big lips! It's really highly pigmented and is a gorgeous red colour which lasts amazingly well. I have used other brands of tubed lip-products which have gone dry and crusty after a while, but this fades slowly and prettily.

The only problem is, now I've seen all the other colours for sale, I want so many more! If you have any you can recommend please let me know. I am seriously lusting after the new shades!

Meet Jo Malone Today!

2011-11-10T10:00:00.000Z

Jo Malone's new range of fragrances for her new global brand JO LOVES, launched this week with a pop up counter and 'scent pod' in Selfridges' Beauty Hall.

It's the first time in five years that Jo has designed a scent, so it's all rather exciting! She will be at the counter in Selfridges, Oxford Street from 4.30 this afternoon signing bottles for customers.

The new range consists of: Pomelo, Green Orange & Coriander, Orange Tulle and Gardenia. To find out more about the fragrances, click here

If you manage to get down there, please let me know what it was like!

Nails of the Day - NARS Purple Rain

2011-11-08T11:32:00.000Z

I remember when this polish came out, I just had to have it, and strangely enough I don't wear it very often at all. This is probably the fourth time I've worn it! It's a really gorgeous deep purple colour, and if you look extremely closely you can see tiny blue and red/pink flecks of microglitter. It's multi-tonal without being frosty or too OTT, which is what drew me to it in the first place.

It is very dark, and in some lights can almost look black, but in daylight (like when this photo was taken) it is most definitely the most stunning jewel shade of purple.

This is the first and only NARS polish I've owned - I love the sleekness of the bottle with the matte lid, the only down side is that the brush is relatively thin so it's near on impossible to do a '3-stroke manicure'. The polish is very opaque - you could definitely get away with just one coat, although I did two for the purpose of the photo.

I'd definitely like to explore more of the NARS nail range. Do you have any of their polishes that you would recommend?

What's in my Feel Unique Box?

2011-11-07T12:55:00.000Z

November's Feel Unique Beauty Box has arrived! Here I am showing what's inside.

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What do you think? Are you a subscriber? Did you get anything different?

£40 off Kurt Geiger

2011-11-07T11:19:00.001Z

I have just bought the most bargaintastic pair of boots from Kurt Geiger - I got these leather beauties for a mere £33 including P&P!

I thought it was only fair if I shared how I got them so cheaply! Firstly they were in the sale, reduced from £120 to £69. Then I used the code KGWELCOME10 which gave me £20 off my order. I had a £20 giftcard that came free with Elle magazine this month (£3.80)... and there you have it!

I'm not sure when the promo code expires, but happy shopping! Let me know what you get.

Grab a £10 Beauty Box

2011-11-04T17:57:00.001Z

Boudoir Privé has been one of the few remaining beauty box subscription services that has stayed at £10 including postage and packaging, however, as of tomorrow, they will be charging an additional £2.95 P&P.

The good news is is that existing subscribers will have their £10 all-in price frozen! As the price rise starts from tomorrow (5th November), anyone subscribing from now until midnight will still get the £10 price. Click here to subscribe.

AOFM Make Up Course - Week Two

2011-11-02T14:20:00.002Z

My course at the Academy of Freelance Makeup has now finished, but I was so busy throughout that it's only now I can update you with how I got on on week 2!

Week one of the course was basics, week two was advanced, the same theory applied - we had a different make up artist teaching us each day, so we could learn their tips and tricks and see what worked for us. The morning was usually spent chatting with the make up artist about what they do and how they got to where they are, a talk and demo relating to the subject we were learning, and after lunch getting into pairs and working on each other.

On day one we had Barbara Braeunlich who taught us about the different periods and the make up associated with the eras. She demonstrated a 1920s look, which involved blocking out eyebrows. I decided to do the same look on my partner. Please bare in mind that the natural eyebrows would normally be Photoshopped out of the photo!

Day two's subject was Avant Garde which was taken by Philippe Miletto. He showed us lots of tricks using make up in ways we had not yet - like using masking tape on the face to create straight lines for eyebrows, blush or just to add crazy colour to the face. We seemed to learn that with avant garde, anything seems to go! Philippe spoke to us about the importance of working to a time scale too - so we were only given 45 minutes to work on our partners, it was great to have to do the make up with a bit of pressure! I decided that I still wanted my make up to look beautiful, so tried out some new techniques which Phillipe had demoed to us, and these are the two looks I produced.

Maria Papadopoulou, one of AOFM's resident teachers took us for day three, where we learned about male grooming, working with different ethinicities, and mature skin. She demoed some different looks to us, but when it came to us working, she wanted to see if we could work to a brief so put 16 different briefs into a hat, which we each had to pick from. We then had 45 minutes to create our look! The piece of paper I picked out said on it 'a black eyeliner in gel that comes out of the outer corners of the eyes as a straight line.' I used the masking tape technique taught by Phillipe the day before to ensure my lines were straight. Whatever our item was had to be the main focus of the face. The light was terrible so you can't see too clearly in the photo, but I contoured her cheeks to compliment the horizontal lines at her eyes, highlighted the inner corners of her eyes to emphasise the drawn out look, and gave her a nude lipstick so as not to draw attention away from the eyes.

As part of the advanced class you get a shopping day - where you go along with one of the teachers to a few make up shops where discounts have been arranged, to start off our kits. On day four we met up with Breianne Zellinski extra early outside the MAC pro store, where we had a whopping 35% off, after spending a small fortune in there we headed off to Shu Uemera where we had 30% discount, Benefit with 20% off, Bare Ecentuals with 20% off and lastly to Screenface where we got 10% off. Here's a very bad pic of my bounty!

Once we got back we still had to complete a full day of school, so AOFM kindly provided us with lunch at the academy and then we got on with lessons - which was body painting with Carolyn Roper. It was a really fun lesson, but I found it a bit strange being put in the middle of our make up syllabus, nevertheless, we were all fairly frazzled so were glad to have a lesson where we could have a play!

Firstly we were told to do anything we liked, to get used to playing with the paints. OMG white paint is so so so hard to work with! I regretted starting with it, it's horrible!

Next we had a demo on how to do clothes - we were shown how to do buttons and stitching and how to make the clothes look like they had movement in them through light and shadows. Here is my attempt. I was rather pleased with my buttons and flower!

Next I tried a chain with some shading to look like it was coming away from the arm.

Day Five was Textures - which was taught by another AOFM resident teacher, Cristina Iravedra - she showed us an amazing eye make up demo using greasepaints and crystals.

Unfortunately the photo of my partner didn't come out well, but we had to create something using greasepaints, glitter, crystals annnnnnnd feathers! Luckily my partner was going to a masquerade party that night, so I created a little mask for her!

That weekend we had a photoshoot in which we had to create a beauty look, and editorial look - we had a hair stylist, stylist and photographer.... It was nerve-wracking but I loved it once it was happening! I will show you those pics once I get them back from the photographer.

Stay tuned for week 3!

800 Followers Winner!

2011-10-31T20:13:00.003Z

Thank you all so much for your entries to my 800 followers competition... a winner has been picked at random, and that winner is... rosiehannahh - congratulations on winning this lot!

October Empties

2011-10-31T15:39:00.001Z

I love seeing what other people have used up - so this month I made a conscious effort to save my empty bottles to write a post of my own, and was rather surprised by how many things I finished in October!

one & two - Aussie Colour Mate Shampoo & Conditioner - Aussie seems to be a brand I use and love, try something else, and forget about, until the next time I use it, and I fall in love all over again. I tried the range for coloured hair this time - they left my hair feeling smooth, manageable and easy to straighten. They smell lovely too - bonus!

three - Dove Indulgent Nourishment Body Lotion with Shea Butter - this has seen me through the whole of the summer and is absolutely wonderful. If I could only ever have one body lotion again for the rest of my life I would be perfectly happy using this one. Locks in moisture, smells divine, and cheap!

four - Original Source Lime Shower gel - The smell of this shower gel reminds me of lime sweets, it's the one I will automatically chuck in the trolley as I go round the supermarket as I love it so much. It smells of lime green sweeties without being sickly, gives the skin a good clean without leaving it dry, and doesn't leave too much of the fragrance on your skin.

five - Estee Lauder Double Wear Light foundation - I have re-bought another of these since using it up, I have to have one on the go at all times! It's a great long lasting foundation that stays put for longer than an hour without being cakey. I'm yet to find another foundation that suits my skin as much... and I've tried a lot.

six - MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer - Another one that's been repurchased! This little squeezy tube of concealer seems to last ages, and is a nice creamy way to cover up any imperfections on your face.

seven - Lancome Ink Artliner Gel Eyeliner - This hasn't run out, but completely dried out! I have since discovered that you should always store gel liner upside down to help it last longer. The shade I had was 01, which is black - it's easy to work with and is a true black colour, but there wasn't anything amazing about it. I've since bought MAC's Blacktrack Fluidline to replace it.

eight - Guerlain Precious Light Rejuvenating Illuminator - this is Guerlain's version of Touché Eclat and a great little highlighter which has seemed to last me for ever!

nine - MAC Technakohl Liner (Eye-Liner Kajal) in Earthline - this is a gorgeous khaki brown eyeliner which glides on smoothly and is blendable.

ten - Laura Mercier Oil Free Foundation Primer - A small blob of this before applying your foundation helps to reduce pores and provide a more even skin tone, and makes your foundation last longer. I try to use it only when I know I'll need a bit of extra staying power, but it definitely works!

eleven - MAC Lushlight Bronze Studio Careblend Bronzer - I bought this with the Surf, Baby! collection in the summer of this year so was surprised that it's empty already. The truth is, I had hit pan, there was a ring of about a centimeter of product left, but I dropped the compact, and it smashed all over the place! I'm sad that it was limited edition because I think it's my favourite bronzer of all time!

What's in my Boudoir Privé Box?

2011-10-27T22:07:00.001+01:00

I'm on a roll tonight! Here is the grand unveiling of October's Boudoir Privé box...

What's in my Glossybox?

2011-10-27T20:52:00.000+01:00

I know I'm a bit late - I'm living in hecticness at the moment - but here is the October Glossybox and it's contents....

AOFM Make Up Course - Week One

2011-10-16T17:00:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed I haven't been around much this week - that is because I have started my Professional Hair & Make Up course at AOFM (Academy of Freelance Makeup). Before I continue I want to make it clear that I wasn't invited on the course to review it for the blog - I have paid to do this as make up is clearly something I love and would like to take further.

When I made the decision to do a course, there were only a few available that did short courses, and in the end AOFM seemed the best choice to me - they are well connected and offer graduates assisting jobs which can sometimes be hard to get when you are starting out.

I booked the course towards the start of the year and had felt like forever waiting for it to start. Now it's started it seems to be zooming by, but I am enjoying every minute (apart from having to wash my brushes at the end of every night!) I have just completed my first week of three, so thought I'd show you a little run down of what I've been up to.

The school is based in Dean Street, Soho - and has two 'classrooms' which are set up with portable make up desks round the edges. There are 28 of us doing the course, split in to two classes - my class has 16 in it, the other has 12.

Every day we have been taught by a different make up artist, which has been great - we get to hear their way of doing things, how they made a name for themselves and can ask them any questions we may have. We spend the morning chatting and having a demo, then after lunch we get in pairs and do the look on our partner.

On day one we were given our AOFM brush set which is a really nice set of 24 brushes in a roll. Jana Ririnui, the owner, came and chatted to us, and with Maria Papadopoulou we were taught the basics - how to do a no-make-up make-up look. Put simply, how to do foundation properly. Every day a new range of make up is brought to us, but for today we worked with MAC Face & Body. It was quite daunting having to put make up on someone else for the first time, and it took a while for us all to get how to choose the right shade.

Once we had done that, we were taught how to do a smokey eye

On day 2 Barbara, the eyebrow expert, showed us how peoples eyebrows should be shaped, we had to tweeze our partners eyebrows (omg how scary!) and draw them in how they should be. I never colour in my eyebrows so this is totally new to me and something I want to practice. We were shown how to do a Dita Von Teese look, and applied strip lashes to one eye and individual lashes to the other.

On day 3 Valentina Creti showed us how to contour, and how to create glowy skin. I won't show you the scary contour only pic! This was my finished look.

Louise Dartford came in on day 4 to talk to us about bridal make up. We had to do a classic bridal look - I found it really interesting to work with an oriental face, and learning how to flatter the eyes.

Day 5 was taught by Michelle Webb and was all about catwalk. It was fab to break out of the classic looks and get really creative! We based our looks on two of hers that she did at Fashion Week 2011.

Day 6 was taught by Barbara Braeunlich - who does a lot of make up for photographic work. We were taught how to apply make up for different lighting situations, and for black and white photography. She gave us a demo and we were told to find an image during lunch time that we wanted to use for inspiration - and we had free reign to create a look that would look good in both colour and black and white. I decided I wanted to do a glossy black eye, Barbara suggested I made it look really messy, which I found hard as we'd been learning to do everything so precisely!

So, that's basically been my week! I have loved it all - meeting some people that are amazing at what they do and having the chance to ask questions, being taught their ways of doing things - for instance Barbara (the eyebrow expert) likes to curl eyelashes with a spoon! It's really interesting to hear different ways of doing things from different people and finding the best way that works for you. All my course-mates are lovely - I have made some fab friends. We are all exhausted but really looking forward to next week!

800 Followers Giveaway!

2011-10-15T20:21:00.000+01:00

Woohoo - thank you all so much for following me, I can't believe that this little blog I started out for something to keep me occupied has got so many people subscribed to it! I really appreciate it, and all your comments and tweets - so I'm having a little competition...

I thought it would make sense for me to give away things I actually love myself, and these things are all products I currently use and would recommend!

What you could win:

Rimmel Sun Shimmer - instant wash off tan
Barry M nail paint - Navy
Carmex - cherry flavour
Sleek Pout Polish - Peach Perfection (blogged about here)
MUA Pro eyeshadow trio - Innocence (blogged about here)
Barry M nail paint - Shocking Pink

There are a number of ways to enter this competition to win;

You must be a follower of my blog - either via GFC, Bloglovin' or Facebook - please state which.
You must leave me a comment asking to be entered. You will only be entered once via comments (i.e. if you comment 5 times you will still be entered once)
You can gain one extra entry by following @SuperGorgeous on Twitter and letting me know about it.
You may get another entry by tweeting about my giveaway and letting me know by commenting here. You could copy and paste into your Twitter box I've just entered the @Super_Gorgeous giveaway - you can too at http://tinyurl.com/6a4ryy6
If you link to my giveaway on your blog sidebar and come and leave a comment telling me about it, you will gain three extra entries.
The winner will be selected at random and announced on Monday 31st October. They will be contacted by email so please leave your email address with your comment.

Good luck! x

What's in my Feel Unique Box?

2011-10-07T12:58:00.001+01:00

This month I received my first Feel Unique beauty box. Check out the video if you'd like to know what was inside.

What do you think of the contents of this box? Would you subscribe?! I need to drop one of my box subscriptions and I just can't decide!

Nails of the Day - Zoya Tao

2011-10-05T11:59:00.000+01:00

This polish is one that came in my Boudoir Privé box - taken from Zoya's new Smoke & Mirrors collection. This one is from the 'Mirrors' part, as it's metallic. The 'Smoke' part is for the cream shades in the collection.

If I'm honest, Tao isn't the kind of colour I'd pick up if I was shopping for myself - I'm not a big fan of multi-tonal nail polish, but I actually really like this.

It's a silvery steel colour with a hint of blue, which has tiny weeny micro glitter inside. I've added an extreme close up of one of my nails so you can see what I mean.

It's very pretty, and even nicer when it hits the light and you see the depth of the polish.

I always wear a base coat, but sometimes dark colours stain nails - I'm happy to report that this one didn't!

This is only the second bottle of Zoya polish I've owned and I'm impressed. All of their polishes are formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP free, and have a vegan friendly forumla. The brushes are nice and wide, and both polishes I have of theirs go on so smoothly and are opaque in just one coat (although I have done two here because I just have to!) I will definitely be checking out more of their polishes.

Which Zoya polishes do you own? Would you recommend them?

Luxurious Lil-Lets

2011-10-04T17:00:00.002+01:00

Yeah I know, it's not often that you'd write the word 'luxurious' next to a feminine hygiene product. And I know it's not really the done thing to talk about such things... but I figured that most of my readers were female, and most of those females probably use feminine hygiene products, so here I am, sharing one of my latest discoveries.

Lil-Let's have come up with the fabulous idea of totally repacking their products to make them look cute and discreet. This is how you'd see them on the shelf...

But once you take off the outer sleeve, the only way anyone would ever know what was inside was if you had the Lil-Lets logo showing...

The packaging for the sanitary towels are still in a plastic type bag, but I love that they have real ribbons to keep the top closed

I would not be embarassed in the slightest, to have one of these tubs on display in my bathroom. No one would ever know what was inside. Yes, we have to menstruate, but I don't necessarily want my bathroom to say 'just so you know, I'm on my period'.

To add to the whole theme of discreetness, they have made the packing of the products themselves as discreet as possible.

The wrappers are now 'whisper wrappers' which means that they make much less noise than 'normal' packaging. There is no plastic rustling noise when you unwrap the tampon, at last!

The tampons come in a full range of absorbencies from lite to super plus extra, and are priced at £2.39. The towels come in normal, long, and night and are priced at £1.89 which I think is fabulous considering how unique they now are.

It's about time someone has tried to make the time of the month a little more pleasant, and I think Lil-Lets have done just that!

Have you seen the new packaging yet? What do you think?

MUA Pro Trio Eyeshadows

2011-09-28T11:58:00.000+01:00

When MUA released their Pro range, along came the eyeshadow trios - a small circular palette in which three eyeshadows pop out in a dome-like fashion. I must admit, I went a bit crazy and bought 5 different trios, but at only £2.50 a palette I didn't break the bank.

The colours are all quite shimmery, which is probably my only downside - but they actually seem to work. The back of each trio gives you a guide of how to use the shadows - use the darkest shade to define and line, the mid shade to blend and shadow, and the lightest shade as a highlight. A small sponge applicator is included in the trio - which at one end is pointed for applying eyeliner and the other a normal eyeshadow sponge. I probably won't use it, but it's handy for on-the-go touchups, if you like that kind of thing. I generally found that these shadows were very pigmented and lasted the entire day.

I'm going to show you three of my trios today - out of interest, I used the shadows as suggested, then lined my eyes using Urban Decay's 24/7 liner and Benefit They're Real mascara.

Firstly, my favourite, Pink Sorbet:

Although they're "pink" they actually come out quite brown, in a tone that I really love. The darkest colour is just gorgoeus, and I would definitely buy it if it came as a single shadow. Literally every time I have worn this, I have been asked what eyeshadow I'm wearing. I love it!

Next is Passion:

Yeah ok, don't look at how rubbishly it's applied around my eyebrow!! The photo of the shadow on my eye has come out a lot warmer than the swatch on my hand. I'd say the hand swatch is more true to life, but it's not quite as heather blue once it's on the eye. I've never really worn a full purple/blue eye before, and quite like how it compliments my brown eyes.

Lastly is Innocence:

This was the trio I was immediately drawn to, as these kind of tones are my kind of thing! I'm not over sure about the darkest colour - it has a greenish sheen to it, but I l-o-v-e the midtone shade, again, I would totally buy this as a singular colour. Once it's on the eye the greenish part isn't as prominent, but this trio of colours work wonderfully together to create a smoky brown look.

I love that MUA have put three colours together that compliment each other, making it easy for people that struggle to use any more than one shadow on their eyes. Each trio I have tried, I have enjoyed. The shadows glide on easily and last all day - worth much more than the mere £2.50 they cost. Get some!

MUA is available at Superdrug.

Have you bought any of the trios? What do you think?

MAC Me Over - Curvaceous Lipglass

2011-09-26T18:40:00.000+01:00

MAC's latest collection - MAC Me Over was inspired by an online contest - where they asked people to enter, saying why they should be made over. They then selected six people to become the face of the collection, and... well, made them over! There are three parts to the collection, with two of those people representing each part.

I picked up two lipglasses from the MAC Me Over collection - Curvaceous which is part of Rachel & Ian's section - a selection of nudes and pinks, and Spite from Xee & Sharon's section - smoky grey, white and beige toned make up. The other part of the collection is faced by Shirley & Nicole and are strong, rich and smoky.

Today I have swatched my Curvaceous lipglass, which is described on the MAC website as a light grey pink.

From the bottle, it looks like a shade I'd describe as 'dusty pink', similar to Eyeko's Tea Rose nail polish or Sephora by OPI's Casting Call. When swatched on the skin it really is a cool toned dusty pink colour...

But once it's on the lips it's much more of a subtle colour, owing to the pigmentation in the lips. One of my blonde haired, blue-eyed friends tried it on and it looked much darker on her, but on me it looks like a gentle wash of colour...

It's very wearable for daytime, or to add over lipstick for a bit more impact at night. I've been wearing it over MAC's Blankety lipstick for a nude power pout!

Have you got anything from the MAC Me Over Collection? I am tempted by the shadesticks... what do you recommend?

What's in my Boudoir Privé Box?

2011-09-23T13:58:00.000+01:00

This month is the first that I have received my Boudoir Prive subscription box, which I was eagerly anticipating. I crawled from my sick bed to do a video to show you what's inside!

What do you think?If you're thinking of signing up before 25th September, you can use the promo code 1BOX12 for a 50% discount on your first box!

Nails of the Day - Revlon Cherries In The Snow

2011-09-20T19:00:00.001+01:00

Revlon's Cherries In The Snow is a polish I have meant to have owned for ages - I have always heard such positive things about it and I decided it would have to be part of my collection for a couple of years! Seeing as Boots are doing a 3 for 2 across make up promotion, I managed to remind myself that I needed this, and I'm so glad that I did!

It is somewhere between a pink and red... I can't quite decide if it's pink with a hint of red, or the other way round - either way it is a very pretty shade. It's feminine, glossy and a perfect autumn winter colour.

I own a lot of red polishes, and a lot of pinks - but this is my first 're-nk'(?!) polish - unique to my collection and one I would recommend as a staple polish in anyone's stash.

The Saturdays launch FashionistA Magnetism Nail Polish

2011-09-16T11:29:00.001+01:00

On Wednesday night I attended the launch of the FashionistA make up range, which will be coming to a Superdrug near you at the end of October! The Saturdays have created a range of magnetic nail polish for the brand, and were there to tell us all about it.

Each one of the girls has their own colour - Rochelle has 'All Fired Up Red', Frankie is 'Notorious Silver', Mollie created 'Purple Me Up', Una's is 'Ego Green' and Vanessa has 'Forever is Blue'. They seemed really passionate about the products, and told us they named them using the help from the titles of their songs! I was pleased to see that in all the photos of them in magazines I've seen recently, they've been wearing the Magnetism Nail Laquer by FashionistA.

There was a chance for us to have our very own Magnetism Laquer manicure which many of the attendees took advantage of. It was amazing to see the magnet working it's magic!

You basically paint your nails with the polish, and while the second coat is wet, hold the Magnetized nail magnet over the nail for about 8 seconds. I don't know the science behind how it works, but it's such a transformation! I had my nails done with Mollie's 'Purple Me Up' and was really pleased with the results.

The only other magnetic polish I have seen is from higher end brands - and generally with the magnet on the lid of the polish bottle. FashionistA have decided to sell the magnet separately to allow for a whole range of different patterns, such as stars. They are very reasonably priced, with the polishes selling at £6 and magnet for £3. I have been wearing the polish for 2 days now and it's still perfect!

As well as the amazing polish, we got to see the rest of the FashionistA range. They have many products which all looked fab.

One of my favourite things was the eye shadow/blush palettes - the eyeshadows and blushes can be bought singularly (for £4 each), or you can pop them out of their containers and put them in a 4-pan palette. There was a display stand, as one would see in store, showcasing all the wonderful colours and finishes...

You may be able to see in the photo that there in an offer saying 'Buy 3 eye or blush shades - get 4th plus your palette FREE' which is a fantastic deal! You get to hand pick your favourite shades to build a customised palette for only £12.

We were told we could build our own palette so I had lots of fun swatching the shadows while I tried to make the very hard decision of which would make the cut! As usual I was going for the brown toned shadows - here are some that I swatched on my hand.

There were two palettes to chose from - red or black. I went for red, and finally picked my 4 shadows. Here they are out of the palette...

And here they are popped out and in place!

I'm really happy with the decision I made; I think they are gorgeous colours - and I just love how they glide on without being chalky or powdery.

So, keep your eyes peeled for FashionistA soon - I for one can't wait to try out more of their products!

What's in my Glossybox? September 2011

2011-09-15T16:02:00.001+01:00

My September Glossybox arrived today....

Watch the video to see what was in mine!

Liz Earle's Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion

2011-09-14T13:31:00.001+01:00

Liz Earle's Eyebright - Soothing Eye Lotion is a product designed to clean and revitalise tired, puffy eyes. I'm really bad with eye products (as in, I use none - eeek!) so when I was asked if I'd like to try some for myself, I was really intrigued as to what it would do for me.

It is called a 'lotion' - so I was expecting something of creamy consistency, whereas actually it's a see through liquid, which could be mistaken for water if it wasn't for the smell.

Eyebright contains witch hazel, cornflower, organic aloe vera and a grassland herb which is actually called eyebright - it is very gentle so even sensitive eyes can use it. The smell isn't strong or overly herbal which is something I really don't like in a product. It's a soft, delicate scent which just adds to the "gentle" feeling of the product.

It can be used in a number of ways;

You can use it to remove light eye make up... which I discovered means light! It could get rid of my eyeshadow, but Benefit's They're Real mascara could not be budged!

It can be used to wake up your eyes first thing in the morning by squeezing some onto a cotton wool pad then sweeping it across your eyes. I like the fact this adds no extra time into your daily routine but feels so lovely on your eyes - it's cooling and refreshing and gives your eyes a little kick start to wake up!

My favourite way to use it is by soaking two cotton pads with the lotion then putting a cotton pad over each eyelid while you relax for 5-10 minutes. I have had lots of tired times while using this, what with Ibiza, V Festival and then getting back into the routine of school - this has been a luxurious treat that has really helped! It's not often I sit and do absolutely nothing - so this is my chance to just chill while Eyebright works it's magic. After using it in this way, my eyes seem to lose their tiredness and I'm ready for my day!

Eyebright isn't something I would have bought for myself, as I said before, I'm bad with eye products - but I'm so glad I got to try it out - it really does make a difference when you're feeling tired and your eyes need that little extra help!

A massive 150ml bottle is only £10 from the Liz Earle website so once this one runs out, I will definitely be repurchasing!

Have you tried Eyebright before? What is your verdict?

Kate Moss for Rimmel Lipsticks - 03 & 05

2011-09-13T21:40:00.001+01:00

Last week saw the launch of a new range of Rimmel lipsticks, created by supermodel Kate Moss. There are seven shades to choose from and are actually cheaper than other Rimmel lippies, at only £5.49, which I was quite pleased about considering Mossy has got her name to them.

I popped into my local Boots (which is the only place you can get them, for now - they will be branching out into other stores eventually) and picked up numbers 03 and 05.

03 is a nude shade with a hint of pink which I like as it doesn't 'white out' your lips, and reminds me a bit of their original version of Birthday Suit (which they brought back out but a completely different colour!)

Both lipsticks have a sheeny finish to them, which makes them comfortable and easy to wear.

05 is a gorgeous fushia colour. I'd normally see this type of colour and think 'woaaaaaah', but for some reason it's very wearable, and since I've bought it I've been wearing this most days. It seems a lot softer on the lips, and I don't feel like I'm wearing a brightly coloured lipstick. Perhaps this is down to the finish?

The whole range of lipsticks are 'lasting finish', and 05 definitely has staying power and fades nicely. 03 doesn't seem to last as long, but I think this is due to the fact it's not a very colourful shade to start with!

Have you checked out the range yet? Which shades did you get? My local Boots only had 5 of the 7 colours in, so I'm eager to check out the two I missed out!

Don't forget, Boots is offering 3 for 2 across a wide range of make up and other cosmetics, and these qualify!