Nail disaster!

As part of my birchbox UK post yesterday I painted my nails with the black Leighton Denny polish I received (Maneater). I did nothing out of the ordinary - I used Nails Inc base coat (Kensington Caviar) followed by 2 coats of black, followed by a cost of pink glitter (Nails Inc Nail Jewellery), followed by Nails Inc top cost (Kensington Caviar). The results, I thought, looked pretty cool. Even my bf commented on them.

But alas this morning disaster has struck. My index finger has all but peeled off and and thumb is not faring much better. 

So what went wrong?! Was my base coat passed its best (I've had it for several years now)? Does nail polish "go off"? Was it the Leighton Denny's fault? Or was it the glitter which reacted badly with the polish?!

I don't know. But now I have chipped black nails on my way to work. Sigh. I guess I better start fixing it. 

Birchbox February 2014

Hurray! Its Birchbox time! 

This is my 7th month as a Birchbox subscriber - I had an amazing deal for the first 6 months and, after that expired and I had to pay the full amount, I wasn't sure if I wanted to subscribe again. But looking back at what I'd received, I really have found some great products. So I've got another 6 month subscription now (they gave me 2 free boxes when my old subscription finished so how could I not?!)

Anyway let's get on with it shall we?

From left to right I got:

• Gilchrist & Soames - The London Collection Shower Gel. I've never heard of this brand but it smells gorgeous!
• Beauty Protector - Protect & Oil - I've really been getting into using oils, so I've very excited to try this! I've used other hair products from this brand and loved it so I have high hopes.
• Green & Blacks - Dark 70% Chocolate - I've already eaten this. 'Nuff said.
• Leighton Denny - Maneater. Black nail polish scares the hell out of me, so the name is pretty apt! See below for a more girly take on black nails..
• Urban Veda - Radiance Exfoliating Facial Polish. I've tried this product before, I think it came in a Glossybox once. From what I remember its ok, but nothing to write home about. Maybe I'll change my mind once I've tried it again.
• Eyeko - Skinny Liquid Eyeliner. I'm not generally an eyeliner girl, but I tried this out as soon as I opened my box and this is a good one! See below for my flick-y eyeliner look..

Highlights of my box

I am totally a nail polish girl, but when I saw the colour my heart dropped. I've never been into black nails and I don't think I'm going to change my mind any time soon! But I wanted to try it - after all, isn't trying news things what beauty boxes are for? - so I teamed it with pink sparkles (Nails Inc Nail Jewellery Pink Diamond) to give it a more girly feel.

The result? Actually I really like it! I want to try it with silvery crackle effect top coat as well. Thanks Birchbox!

The other highlight is the Eyeko liquid eyeliner. I don't normally have a steady hand when I do eyeliner, but this was so easy to get a thin line on the bottom lash line. Also I was impressed that it didn't irritate my eyes, as I often have that problem with eyeliner. The flick-y eyeliner look has been seen quite a lot in LFW, so I may have to start using eyeliner again!

So that's it! Roll on next month..

Alice xx

Brrr.. time for handwarmers!

The English are well known for our love of discussing the weather. In fact one of my favourite film quotes is from Sense and Sensibility when Mrs Dashwood says to Margaret "If you cannot think of anything appropriate to say, you will please restrict your remarks to the weather". Quite.

Anyway, the weather has been causing havoc in the UK. My heart really goes out to those poor people whose homes and livelihoods have been ruined by the floods. I feel very fortunate that its not been too bad where I live, although I have noticed that its been very cold. 

My new commute now involves a 20 minute walk, so this morning I decided to dig out the novelty hand warmers that I got in my stocking and put them to the test.

They're from a company called Aroma Home, which I hadn't heard of before but looking at their website they seem to do a lot of these warming products (slippers, microwave toys etc).

Inside the woollen "sock" is a liquid pouch, which has a small silver disk that you crack to release the heat. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but the heat is instantaneous and really surprised me the first time I used it. It lasted the full 20 minute walk to work, although the heat wasn't as powerful with the woollen "sock" over it so I might take it out next time I use it. 

Once the heat has finished, the pouch goes cloudy and quite solid. You need to boil it in hot water to melt the liquid before re-using, which is fairly straight forward to do. However its not so convenient for work, as I don't have a hob and a saucepan to do this at the office. 

Overall I like the hand warmers - they're not quite as good for all round warmth as gloves, although I suppose you could put them inside your gloves, but they're fun and totally cute. A lovely Christmas present :)

The perfect bath time accompaniment - Jo Malone Orange Blossom candle

This was a big week for me - I started a new job on Tuesday, which I've been really excited about over the last few months. I haven't done too much yet, just lots of introductions and learning about the company/my role. I suffer quite a lot from anxiety/stress, mostly about silly little things like forgetting my pass or my colleagues' names, and getting stuck in a lift (although that did actually happen to me in the first week of my last job!). Therefore it's really important for me to take time out to properly relax.

My favourite way to wind down after a long day is by getting into a lovely hot bath with bath milk or oil, putting on a face mask and lighting a candle. This evening I chose to use my Jo Malone "Orange Blossom" scented candle, which is just heavenly - if I closed my eyes I could truly believe that I'm in a spa. The scent fills the room quickly and isn't too overpowering. Really love it. 

Sadly Jo Malone candles are crazily expensive, especially now they sell them with silver lids (why?!). My tip is to get them in duty free at the airport - 20% off makes them much more affordable, and then you get the added bonus of using it on holiday!

Cleansing combo I've been testing and loving... Naobay cleansing milk and Rodial Stemcell day cream

I made a beauty product testing error last week. I started using two new products at the same time, and now that my skin is looking better than it has in ages I'm not sure which product to laud. So I'm going to talk about both.

As I've already mentioned in other posts, I used to suffer from bad skin and even as I've got older my skin has never really been what I consider to be "good". But every so often I stumble across new products (mainly thanks to Birchbox UK) which make me go "wow" after seeing the results on my skin.

Last week was one of those times. 

The two products I tried out are both from Birchbox UK; the Rodial one was in my January box, and the Naobay one is from December.

Naobay Moisturising Milk Cleanser

I tried this once very quickly when I first got it in my Birchbox, and to be honest it wasn't love at first use. I don't really like the smell (although it is a very weak smell), and I made the mistake of dampening my face with water before putting it on, which meant it was too runny and didn't cleanse properly. 

The next time I used it, I put it straight onto dry skin and massaged it in. It rinses off with warm water very easily, and I use Elemis Balancing Lavender toner afterwards to get rid of any excess residue (although I don't do this every time - it felt ok to leave it too). I've used the cleansing milk morning and night for the past 4-5 days and I've changed my mind about it - its very gentle and my skin is looking pretty good now. 

The retail price is £12.95 which I think is pretty reasonable as well, so I'm seriously considering getting the full size version.

Rodial Stemcell Super Food Day Cream

I only got a tiny tube of this to test, but so far its lasted 4-5 days which is pretty good. Like the Naobay product, when I first applied this I wasn't that impressed. The cream is very thick, which I don't usually like for my oily/combination skin. However it sunk in fairly quickly and the results surprised me. 

There's an almost pearlescent look to my skin after using it - it looks brighter and healthier straight away. The website says "instantly illuminates skin while reducing redness and imperfections", which is exactly what it does. This stuff is truly amazing! 

The downside is the price - £42 for 50ml is a lot. But I'm kind of thinking its worth it!

Wash-off-with-water mascara

I went out with some girlfriends this week and the topic of conversation turned to make up - what single piece of make up could you not leave the house without?

My past self would always have chosen foundation, because as a teen I suffered quite badly from acne. Most girls however chose mascara and/or eyeliner (it was hard just to pick one!)

During our discussion on mascara, I discovered that very few of the girls had heard of mascara you don't need eye make up remover to take off! I was shocked because this has been my staple mascara for a long time. It looks exactly like all mascara, and so many companies do them that you can have your pick of applicator and colour. 

To take off, you just use hot water - I usually rinse my thumb and first finger in hot water then squeeze my eyelashes, repeating until the mascara comes away in my fingers. Its great if you have sensitive eyes, and its also good to avoid wrinkles because you don't need to rub the delicate eye area.

My first wash-off-with-water mascara was from Clinique - Lash Power Mascara Long-wearing formula. I used it a lot as a teenager because the brush is very skinny so gives a good "no make up" effect.

I then branched out into other brands but my current favourite is from No.7: Stay Perfect Long-lasting volume, in brown/black. Because you can only get it off with hot water, it really doesn't smudge and I'd say its actually impossible to get panda eyes. The brush is really nice - its bendy and has small spikes to really separate the lashes (but not in a painful way!). Its £12.95 in Boots but as they are always giving out vouchers for No7 products, you can easily get it for under a tenner. 

Thanks for reading :)
Alice x

This month the body lotion I am loving is.. Rhodes to Heaven

To be a good body lotion, there are several things the product MUST have/do:

• Gorgeous smell - but not so strong that its all I can smell for the next few hours
• Quick absorption - no flapping about in the morning freezing to death in my underwear while I'm waiting for it to dry
• Actually work - I want my skin to be noticeably softer/smoother if I'm going to go to the effort of putting lotion on

I've tried hundreds of different types of body lotions over the years and found many that I like, but I still can't resist trying out new stuff.

Rhodes to Heaven Revitalising Body Balm

I was given this body lotion for Christmas by my bf's parents as part of a set with the Rose and Geranium Shower Gel. I'd never heard of Rhodes to Heaven, so I was excited to try something new.

Basically, I love it. The smell is fresh and fruity. The texture is quite thin and spreads easily over the body, which also means that it dries quickly. My skin was lovely and soft after just a couple of days of use over Christmas. 

The downside: It seems to be disappearing quite rapidly! Maybe I'm using too much (it says "use sparingly" on the website). But at this rate it would've only lasted a couple of months, and I haven't been using it a lot either. At £26 for the 200ml bottle (which is the one in my pics), that doesn't seem to be very good value.

My verdict?

I would definitely recommend this body lotion, as it does everything I want a body lotion to do. A bit on the expensive side considering it doesn't seem to last that long, so maybe keep it for special occasions rather than as an everyday lotion. But overall, a January favourite :)

Thanks for reading :)

Alice xx