John Frieda Frizz Ease Smooth Start shampoo & conditioner

John Frieda Frizz Ease Smooth Start shampoo & conditioner

Hello lovelies,

John Frieda Frizz Ease Smooth Start Shampoo & Conditioner

John Frieda Frizz Ease is one of those products that feels like it’s been around for a lifetime, there on the shelves of Boots, offering salvation to all of us fuzzy mopped ladies (and gents too!).
Despite trying to only use SLS free shampoos as far as possible, I am happy to sporadically use SLS laden products as I cannot find a blonde toning shampoo without them.

With that said, I recently tried the Smooth Start shampoo & conditioner in the hope that they would give me sleek, managable hair now that it’s getting warmer outside.

With a light fruity scent, the shampoo lathers perfectly, not overpoweringly foamy but enough to make the wash feel luxurious. The product rinses away well which is a bonus as I personally find a lot of shampoos with SLS are quite hard to rinse out of my dry, curly blonde hair. After shampooing, my hair felt soft already as opposed to that straw feeling from more harsh shampoos that seem to over clarify.

The conditioner is also well behaved. It applies well with the same light scent of the shampoo and again, rinsed out well. Using these products certainly don’t feel like a chore.

After using the John Frieda combo, my hair was a lot easier to dry and I felt that it was much easier to straighten without much effort using a paddle brush. It wasn’t a struggle for straighteness like usual. My straighteners zoomed through the lengths, gliding over the hair.

For comparisons sake, I’ve been using these products without any other styling aids to see how they fair and I’m really impressed. Without using any serums or oils, my hair feels less coarse and more managable but in a humid condition, with only a blow dry, my hair did feel frizzy again at the back but I think that’s nothing that some serum couldn’t contain and manage.

My hair also seems to feel cleaner the day after a wash than it has in a long time, with ends retaining their thickness but not being frizzy and bushy. That’s the major downside of a lot of frizz fighting shampoos, they over load the hair to combat the problem leaving it lank and lifeless.

On whole, I’m not sure I’d use these shampoos every day purely because of my preferences for SLS free shampoos but conversely, the scent and product has triggered absolutely no allergic reactions so I’m very very happy with the duo and I’d recommend it as a daily use if you have any coarse frizz issues.

You can buy John Frieda Frizz Ease Shampoo & Conditioner at all good retailers as well as at Boots

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Spotlight On….. Sarah from F.A.C.E Make Up Artistry

Spotlight On….. Sarah from F.A.C.E Make Up Artistry

Hello Lovelies,

If you cast your minds back a wee while, you’ll remember my MAC make over gift from my Father in Law. You can read the post HERE in case you can’t remember.

Today, I have a special treat for you!

The amazing Sarah has agreed to be my first special guest in my new weekly ‘Spotlight on….’ feature! How exciting!

 
 

Sarah is a gorgeous, pink tressed, freelance make up artist based in Newcastle that I met through her work with the M.A.C counter in Fenwicks. She’s the one smiley friendly face I always looked for on the counter when I visit as I can be assured she’ll be honest and not just force that purple blusher and pink eyeshadow on me just because it’s ‘in’ this month. Ladies, we’ve all had that experience, haven’t we!

Sarah is also the mastermind behind http://facemakeupartistry.com/ so don’t forget to swing by and check the site out or head on over to facebook and give her a LIKE –  https://www.facebook.com/f.a.c.emakeupartistry?fref=ts
 

As it’s the first Spotlight on….. I will explain a little more about it. Each week, I will be showcasing some of my favourite bloggers and industry insiders. If you’d like to take part, feel free to get in touch using the Contact form up there ^

So, on with the show!

 
You can read more, under the cut!
 

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YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain #7

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain #7

Hello Lovelies,

What a little stunner I have for you today! YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain in shade 7, a browny pink shade that is very much ‘my lips but better’

First of all, this is my first dip in to the waters of YSL lip products and I am suitably impressed, nay blown away.

With some trepidation I tried these. I really wanted to like them but with a lot of stains they revert back to a deep pinky red base by the end of the day which I do not like as it overly emphasises my deeply pigmented lips which makes it harder to cover. With the Glossy Stain, the colour remains ‘true’ to the end. Huge bonus in my book.

The packaging is just as luxe as you’d expect from a YSL product and I don’t feel the £22.50 price tag is overly expensive when you consider the price of a MAC lipglass or lipstick really. Yes, it costs more, but in the grand scheme of things not THAT much more. Does that make sense? I appreciate the price is probably not to everyones liking but I think this stain is well worth it.

You can apply this in a few different ways.. One coat gives a subtle wash of colour with a slight sheen to it, 2 coats brings out the pigmentation for a colour pop with increased gloss then a 3rd coat gives you maximum coloured pouty goodness. With each additional coat you aren’t left with extra stickyness or that gross overloaded feeling you can get with lipsticks and glosses (regardless of their price).

You don’t feel like you are wearing any product at all and when you purse your lips, you can’t feel the product. It’s got enough moisture in it for me personally not to be reaching for the lip balm every half an hour. It’s a very comfortable, non drying product.

Application wise, it goes on well with the applicator wand in an almost creamy formula. Very easy to work with, doesn’t feather and the point of the applicator tip makes it easy to do your cupids bow on touch ups during the day.

I will warn you though, it smells funny. Like a chemically, almost winey smell. You can’t smell it once it is on, but in the tube and on application it is quite strongly scented. If you are a bit iffy with scented products I really would recommend you giving it a sniff test first prior to purchase so that you are prepared. It’s not an unpleasant smell… just a strong one.

I find from 2 coats at 7am, I can get through until 1pm with out needing to touch up or add any more gloss / balm. That’s sitting at my desk constantly drinking water or eating fruit. I do a light touch up at 1pm and then that lasts me right through until I take my make up off.

With 18 colours to choose from, there’s a colour to suit everyone.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains are available  from Boots priced £22.50.


Have you tried the YSL Glossy Stains or any other YSL lip products? I think I have developed a new obsession… which lip product should I try next from YSL?
 
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Luxury Leather Luggage by blokesbags.co.uk

Luxury Leather Luggage by blokesbags.co.uk

Hello Lovelies,

I’m sure if you follow me on Twitter you’ll know the dilemma I have been having with buying new travel luggage right? I am looking for the most perfect pair of tan leather holdalls / weekend bags. Finding these bags has been next to impossible and believe me I have trawled luggage shops and brands.

I want something quite masculine as I like classic, clean, simple shapes, styles and lines and as Mr Tramp will have to use these and a lot of the bags I have found have been a bit too girly.. Or in a lot of cases, insanely too expensive. I’m just not a fan of frou frou “girly” designs or overbearingly monogrammed designer luggage covered in labels and brands. I don’t begrudge spending money on good quality luggage that will last me a life time but looking at some of the high price range luggage in stores it just simply hasn’t been up to the quality I expect to reflect the price.

Feeling a bit dejected, I started to Google for mens leather bags in the off chance I found something appealing. And boy am I glad I did!

Blokesbags.co.uk, based in Bath, is a unique website offering a HUGE choice of bags for men. I am in leather luggage heaven here. So much so I found myself emailing the owner of the company to tell him how happy I was to have found his website.

David and his wife started Blokesbags 3.5yr ago to deal exlusively in the niche market of man bags. David himself always carried a bag whilst working as a newspaper editor and realised one day people stopped mocking him and starting asking him where he bought it.

Having built their own website from scratch, the company now stocks almost 500 different styles of manbags from beltbags to holdalls and a myriad in between. David sources each product for their design and practicality with their beautiful holdalls ranging from £34.99 to £700.

I think the stigma of carrying a ‘handbag’ has rapidly dropped with the increasing popularity of laptops and ipads. Men need to carry their stuff around just as much as us ladies so why not buy yourself a spiffy manbag rather than a dull black laptop bag or sports rucksack!

I know I had a lot of Twitter support from people looking for the same kind of luggage that I was, so I hope this is of some use. Mr Tramp is already eyeing up a few stunners to replace his naff laptop bag and old briefcase!

Would you ever consider thinking outside the box and looking at ‘mens bags’ or are you all about the girly?
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Save 60% with She Said Beauty

Save 60% with She Said Beauty

Hello Lovelies,

I’m pretty sure we are all aware of Beauty Boxes by now right? With a whole host to choose from I can safely say I have tried all the big hitters and after subscribing, I find myself losing interest, cancelling after a few months, chopping, changing and returning.

The most difficult part of this fussy flitting, is remembering to cancel subscriptions so that I can move around.

I’m fickle aren’t I?

Did you know that She Said Beauty do gift subscriptions and 3/6/12 month subbing options? I think the next time I change around, I will definitely be buying a 3 month sub, which attracts discounts usually, to save myself some money and be assured that I won’t keep getting boxes when I forget to change!
Well, She Said beauty are offering an AWESOME 60% off their 6 month subscriptions for 1 week only to celebrate the Queens Jubilee.
From June 1st – June 6th, you can save a whopping £32.40. That’s mind blowing! All you need to do is use the code JUBILEE60  over on the site

Will you be taking advantage of this?

 
 
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