Leopard Print Love

Leopard Print Love
I am not ashamed to admit, I love leopard print…. and no, i’m not Bet Lynch! Although wait… blonde hair… tan… leopard print…. NO… i’m definitely not Bet Lynch!


But I do indeed love leopard print. It seems to be making a resurgence in popularity. It has veered away from the territory of older ladies and the stereotypical floozy’s to be main stream height of fashion. I thankfully like to keep the print to my accessories, bags and shoes…. no one likes print overkill do they!

I am loving leopard print make up too. I have not tried any of these products before, but I think I certainly will do. I keep looking at them but never bite the bullet.  

Here is a few of my favourite leopard print make up bits on the market …..
Dior’s new Mitzah palette, as inspired by Mitzah Bricard 



Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer  (£22.00 from Debenhams)


Too Faced Peach Brightener  (£22.00 from Debenhams)



Benefit’s Glamazon tint – Now I think this has sadly been discontinued but you can still find it on a few websites / ebay

And finally, no leopardy make up look is complete without the perfectly sculpted brows.
Tweezerman Leopard Print Slant tweezers ( £22.00 from Beauty Bay)

Oh and of course at the time of typing this, I am rocking a rather amazing matching leopard print mani – pedi!
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Exfoliating Favourites

Exfoliating Favourites
In the spirit of Lady from a tramp, I am starting my annual (shame on me I know) exfoliation battle.

In the run up to summer exposure, an abundance of fake tan and a holiday on the cards, it’s time to battle those lumpy bumpy corned beef arms and dull flaky shins!

Despite my facial skin being super sensitive, the skin on my body can take a battering. I prefer my exfoliators and body scrubs to be nice and super gritty so you can really really feel it sloughing away at the dead skin cells and smooth rough areas.

I am currently using Treacle Moon’s That Vanilla Moment scrub.
The blurb from the Treacle Moon Website : 
This is a dreamy creamy scrub that takes all the yuck and debris from your busy skin (in a gentle unassuming sort of way) and leaves you cleansed softened and smooth. make the household chores wait and find a couple of minutes twice a week to polish your special skin… you will be amazed.
The scrub isn’t overly gritty or as grainy as i’d like but it is a beautiful decadent scented product that really feels like it leaves a little bit of moisture on the skin so it not only feels exfoliated but nourished too. The scent isn’t as cloying or overpowering as something like the Body Shop vanilla line but gently scented like a sweet cake. The smell also doesn’t interfere with any scented shower gel or body lotion you’d apply afterwards which is fab.


To supplement the scrub, I also recently purchased the Calypso Natural Scrub Sponge which I absolutely love. I seriously cannot rave about this sponge… which is a bit sad I know. On one side is a traditional yellow cellulose sponge and on the other is a coating of what I can only describe as sand paper! It sounds terrible but it isn’t dangerously rough, it is actually made of roasted corn grains.

It is the rough sandpaper side that I love. I think it just really gives a great exfoliation and it makes me really feel like it’s working straight away.

I paid £2.89 for the Treacle Moon scrub which comes in a 225ml tube. It is normally £3.99 but I bought it whilst on offer. The exfoliating sponge was £3.44, also from Tesco.
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Fangirl Friday – Katie Alves

Fangirl Friday – Katie Alves
As a new segment to the blog, I’m going to share with you all something I have been coveting during the week, whether it’s a make up item, brand, inspiring photo or a hairstyle.

For a while now I have been following the work of a girl called Katie Alves (i’m biased, great name!) who absolutely blows me away with her artistry. It’s not so much the perfectly blended smokey eye of the perfectly sculpted cheek that all of us make up geeks (and wedding artist for my part) can do but for her sheer, amazing artistic talent.

Each of Katies eye and lip pieces are works of art and to rock such perfect scenes, impeccably executed on the lumpy uneven surface of the skin.

I am quite lost for words and failed miserably to recreate one of Katie’s pieces.

On with the awe… a selection of my favourites from her deviantart site – http://katiealves.deviantart.com/






I hope you all go and check her out.

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Review : Clynol Play with me powder

Review : Clynol Play with me powder
Holy Grail big hair?

After a few luke warm attempts with the Umberto Gianni back comb in a bottle, I happened upon Clynol’s ‘Play with me’ powder and WOWSERS!

I sprinkled a little bit across my crown area and lightly massaged in and couldn’t believe the sheer volume it gave! For work I like to wear my hair pinned half back, ploofed up and fastened with a flower. I usually have to do a tiny bit of teasing / hair spraying and then push the hair up to pin it in place.

Not with this bad boy! Full matte volume and texture in seconds! I did smooth over the top layer with my tangle teezer just to make it a bit neater for clipping back but its perfect!

It leaves the hair with a very obvious producty feel to it but it’s not visible in the slightest. I think you might struggle to quickly run you fingers through this, but then again, who runs their fingers through the roots of their hair when wearing it volumised? It’s normally mids – ends then get the finger treatment!

I have a gig coming up and I think I’m going to straighten my hair poker straight and then really floof up the top layers with this powder for an, excuse the typecast “emo / rock chick” look.

I can see this being a very definite re-purchase, although at around £10 per tin it runs a bit pricey. It will of course depend on how long it last really as I don’t think I’ll use this every day, just to mix things up. I do believe Osis and Lee Stafford make their own similar version but I haven’t really checked out reviews of those yet!

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Review : WEN Hair Care system

Review : WEN Hair Care system
I get up and leave for work on a morning before most tv channels “switch on” so I am no stranger to the Guthy Renker infomercials and I have to say, I’m always swayed by the Sheer Cover and WEN adverts.

I have tried co-washing before and quite liked the results but for some reason I got out of the habit of doing it, using blonde toners & SLS free shampoos instead. I’m on a summer  pre holiday kick of getting my hair in tip top condition so that the ravages of chlorine, salt water, heat and humidity don’t take their toll too badly. I never slave over my hair on holiday, I literally wash and go, leaving it to dry in to my loose curls most days. Battling the heat AND straighteners just isn’t my idea of fun!

I am now on to my 3rd wash with WEN and I can honestly say I am blown away. My first dalliance with it was astounding. I got a full extra day of “hair down” and probably could have got a 4th day out of the wash if I wore it up. Normally I have to wash every other day because my hair is dirty by then. Obviously the less I have to wash my processed hair, the less natural oils I will be stripping so this is the first thumbs up!

Initially on reading the instructions, I was horrified to read I needed 10 – 15 pumps of the cleanser for my hair. I am still quite dubious of how quickly I’m going to rattle through a bottle using it at that rate…. But hey ho, if that’s what it says… that’s what I used! Application was a doddle, but I did find the waiting time to be a little long, 1-3 minutes for the ‘washing’ action and then 5 minutes to leave it for the ‘conditioning’ effect (I assume). I don’t know about anybody else, but even if I’m doing a shave + wash I’m rarely in the shower for that long so I found it a bit tedius.. But that’s probably because I’m constantly pressed for time. The last time I washed my hair  I used 8 pumps to ‘wash’ my hair with and a following 5 on the ends and lengths and left it for the 5 minutes. This did feel a bit nicer after drying but it was negligable.

On rinsing my hair felt so soft and slinky and strong when I was combing it. None of those horrible stretchy snaggy moments either. I wanted to give the system its full opportunity to wow me so I followed up washing with a small amount of the styling crème. It has a beautiful sweet minty smell (it should do as it’s made with sweet mint) but it’s a delicious smell that lingers in the hair without being overpowering. My hair dried to a soft bouncy finish without feeling weighed down or that odd feeling when you run your fingers through it when you have too much product in it.

My blow dry lasted well in to the 3rd day without my fringe needing re-styled either. I noticed after my 2nd wash with it, my post blow dry hair felt even softer than at first. I tied my hair up later in the day and when I removed the bobble, I didn’t even have that tell tale ridge you get along the back of your head after a ponytail, still bouncy and sleek.

I did notice that after an air dry, my hair felt no better than usual. The ends felt coarse and rough and back to that over processed feeling. That’s just my personal thoughts, so it might be one that’s great for blow drys.

I will keep on using the system and keep you all updated on how I get along as I think it is too soon to give an overall verdict.

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