March favorites

What's the definition of a favorite product? An item that you love more than others, or an item that you've used more often than others? This month all my favorites are a little bit of both actually, although who knows what it'll be next month since my little club of favorites tend to change quite frequently... Let's start with something easy on the locks - hair oils are so versatile and easy to use, and one of the best ones I've tried lately is the lovely Easilocks Rose Gold Oil Heat Protector Pro* (£24.99) that I reviewed earlier this month (see article here). I had never tried this brand before but I was so impressed by how soft, shiny and protected it made my hair look and feel that I've used it a couple of times a week both before styling and as an intense treatment. The texture is light, silky and indulgent with a delightful floral and slightly spicy scent that I just can't get enough of.

My current eye shadow primer, the MUA Pro-Base Prime & Conceal (£1.50) was a bit of an impulse buy and I didn't have very high expectations of it, however this plain looking product turned out to be anything but plain (reviewed here). It's a multi purpose product which can be used both as a primer and a color correcting concealer. The consistency is velvety smooth and light weight and it's great at reducing redness and dark circles under the eyes, and also helps to make your makeup last longer. I've also used it on its own instead of eyeshadow to even out the skintone on my eyelids for a more bright eyed and rested appearance and have found that it's a great dupe for Benefit's Lemon Aid (£16.50). 

We've had some amazingly warm and sunny days in the UK with temperatures close to 20 degrees Celsius, so I've temporarily swapped my leather leggings for summery skirts but to avoid blinding the rest of the world with my whiter than white legs I've accepted some help from the fantastic Caudalie Divine Perfect Legs (£13), which is self-tanning product so easy to use that even I can get an even golden color. The consistency is ever so slightly thicker than most self tanning lotions and since it's colored you can see exactly where you've applied which makes is so much easier to get an even, non zebra like color. It also has a lovely fresh scent, unlike a lot of other self tanning products. If I can't manage to go on a divine holiday, at least I can have divine looking legs with a little help from this heaven sent goodie!

An oldie that I've rediscovered this month, which is almost as fun as trying something completely new, is Avon's Ultra Color Rich Lipstick in Instant Mocha. It's a lovely soft, creamy and moisturising formula with great pigmentation that delivers a beautiful opaque and slightly shiny finish, and since it's opaque you'll get hours of flawless wear without any drying sensation on the lips. The color is a delicious pink with a plum undertone and a lovely shine, and it's such a versatile glamorous shade. I feel a little bit bad for including it in this month's favorites since it's no longer in stock with Avon (why, why, WHY do you keep doing this to me Avon?!) and the few products I've found on eBay and Amazon are relatively expensive compared to the original price point. The closest I've come to finding a twin lipstick is MAC's Craving, which is equally rich, creamy and opaque - simply stunning...

When chubby sticks for eyes were first released I was a bit skeptical to the format, but many months and makeup looks down the line, I am a complete convert and can't praise the format enough. An excellent budget version is MUA's Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tint (£3) in the shade Bring it Back, a brilliant neutral bronzed and slightly shimmery brown. It has a lovely and creamy texture and it's so easy to apply without any tugging on the eyelid for a clean and understated sheer coverage, great for a quick and easy groomed every day look with a simple eyeliner and mascara. It wears really well throughout the day without creasing and at that price, you can't really go wrong.

A palette I have truly loved this month is the beautifully delicate and pretty Dior 5 Couleurs Trianon Edition Eyeshadow Palette (£41) in Pastel Fontanges 234 (you can read a full review here). The colors are all lovely shimmery pastels with great pigmentation and wear, perfect for fresh faced, minimal and romantic looks for spring and summer. My favorite combination so far is to use the ballerina pink with the gunmetal grey, which really brings out blue eyes. I can say hand on my heart that j'Adore Dior!

Swatches from top to bottom:

Avon Ultra Color Rich Lipstick - Instant Mocha

MUA Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tint - Bring It Back

Tanya Burr Lipgloss - Picnic in the Park

I've never really been a big wearer of lipgloss, mostly because I haven't found any with great pigmentation and wear - at least that is, until this year when there have been some real crackers on the high street. The latest one to impress me is the Tanya Burr Lipgloss in Picnic in the Park (£6.99) and its's nothing like the lipglosses I've tried before. The texture is light and very importantly non sticky with wonderful pigmentation, and when you first apply it has a gorgeous glossy look that after a few hrs wear looks like a stain. Out of the 12 colors in the range, Picnic in the park is my absolute favorite - it's a stunning brink pink shade with a slight blue undertone that is simply adorable on the lips, no wonder it's sold out in so many places!

Let me know in the comment section what it takes for a product to make your list of favorites, and what's new for March?

Easilocks Rose Gold Oil Heat Protector Pro

If you read a post that I did last year in which I was comparing different hair oils as part of Operation Rapunzel (see the post here), you'll know that I am a big fan of hair oils, and I'm not the only one. It's one of the most popular hair care products in the world and for good reason. Hair oils are packed with nourishing, repairing and protecting ingredients and you can use them in so many different ways; as a pre-wash treatment, mixed in with your conditioner for an extra intense moisture boost or for styling. Variety is the spice of life and I love to style my hair differently using either straighteners, a wand or my beloved Gladys the BaByliss Pro Perfect Curl, and whever my mood takes me, I'm careful to always use a heat protectant, and the product I have used the most recently is the Easilocks Rose Gold Oil Heat Protector Pro* (£24.99). Easilocks is an Ireland based company specialising in hair extentions made from 100% human hair that are applied with no damage to your natural hair, and there are also Easilocks certified salons located in the UK, Australia and the UAE. They also have a hair care range that works both for extensions and for natural hair, that includes products like shampoo and conditioner with Argan oil, a protein spray and the Rose Gold Oil Heat Protector Pro.

The Rose Gold Oil comes in a 150 ml plastic bottle with a pump, which is really practical since you don't have to worry about breaking it on the bathroom tiles, and it doesn't weigh much, an important consideration when you're traveling a fair bit, and if you prefer not to pour it into a smaller bottle. The essential oils in this product come from rose, carrot, chamomile, coconut, linseed, soybean and everybody's hair favorite - argan oil. This mix is a super charged blend of oils that together moisturise, prevent dehydration and retain moisturise, that soothe the hair and the scalp, that strengthen and that can even encourage hair growth. After you've washed your hair, just apply a few golden drop on the ends of your hair before you blowdry or style as usual.

The texture is lovely, light and silky rather than oily which is a great plus for me since that won't make the hair feel heavy like some oils do and another plus is that the oil absorbs very quickly into the hair making it feel nourished smooth and sleek. Last but definitely not least is the amazing scent - it's soft and very slightly floral with a mellow spiciness to it. It's simply fabulous, and if it were available in a hair perfume, I'd buy it in a nano second. When I've used this oil my hair feels soft, healthy and well behaved, and it has a lovely natural shine and lustre to it. Whether you've got extensions or not I would definitely recommend that you treat yourself to this beautiful, indulgent hair oil.

December empties

I can barely believe that there's only one week to go before Christmas! I've spent the last few weeks bringing home so much stuff for Christmas that the cupboards are filled to the brim of food and hidden away presents. Well, good thing then that I've also tried to make some space by finishing up a few products.

As you may know Operation Rapunzel to get my hair to grow even longer has been in action these last few months, so you probably won't be surprised to see that there are 4 empties today that are related to hair care. The first one is the Kérastase Elixir Ultime hair oil (£27.60). It's a wonderful light oil with a gorgeous scent of sweet and rich moringa that is great for repairing and nourishing damaged hair. Like most hair oils you can use this for some many purposes, as a conditioner, treatment, detangler or as a styling products. I only use a few tiny pumps of oil, and my hairs feels so smooth and silky and cared for. Out of the hair oils I've tried, this is one of my absolute favourites and despite the price tag I would definitely buy it again as it's a real investment in your hair.

Next up is the dry shampoos of the month and both are from Batiste in the scents Cherry (£2.99) and XXL Volume Big & Bouncy (£3.99). Batiste will always be a brand I turn to for dry shampoo because of the wide range of scents that they offer, and they keep re-inventing themselves with new and exciting releases. The cherry scent comes in a cute retro bottle and it has a sweet, fairly intense cherry scent and although it's nice it's almost a little too heavy for me since I prefer lighter scents on my hair that won't interfere with whatever perfume I'm wearing. Big & Bouncy is more of a fresh floral and it's very effective for adding texture and extra body to the hair at the same time as it refreshes and controls oil and I would definitely get it again to help create updo's that stay in place all day.

Key to my routine to encourage my hair to grow is using the Lee Stafford's Hair Growth Treatment which is a protein rich mask that you use as a treatment in between your shampoo and conditioner and you apply it not only to the ends of your hair, but to the scalp as well and a healthy scalp is important for healthy hair, after all the hair grows from the scalp - not the ends. It's a wonderful rich cream with a lovely nutty scent that makes the hair feel very soft and volumized. I've really enjoyed using this every week and I'm already working on my second tub so that I can give you an update next month on how it's worked for me - and if my hair has grown longer which I really hope.

That's the hair products out of the way, so let's look at the others starting with the Gatineau Floracil Eye Makeup Remover (£17.50). It's a non-oily very gentle but effective remover that contains camomile to sooth and refresh the eye area but that also cares for the eyelashes at the same time. In the evening I usually take two cotton pads, soak them with Floracil and put them over the eye lids for a few seconds, and it's as if all the makeup, even water resistant mascara just dissolves and gets wiped away. There's no rubbing or pulling of the delicate skin and no stinging sensation in the eyes. If like myself you spend most of your day in front of a computer screen, your eyes might get a bit tired and weary, and just relaxing with a few pads of Floracil, is a few minutes of every day luxury.  This is without a doubt the best eye makeup remover I have ever used and I will definitely get another jumbo sized one in January and since it should last me about 5 months, the current offer on Salon Skincare really is excellent value for money.

One of the nail care brands that I completely swear by is Sally Hansen and I have used the care range for years now. I must confess that I have strayed and used other brands in between that promise miraculous nail growth, but I have always come back to Sally Hansen since I find that the products actually work and one of the products I've used almost non stop the past year is the Nail Growth Serum (£6.95). The serum contains Biotin, which is famous for helping hair and nails to grow and also for improving the quality. You massage it into both the nail and the cuticle and it certainly helps your nails to grow and I also find that the nails feel stronger and more even. I do prefer the Nail Growth formula that you can use as a base case, but both products are great and if you find it difficult to grow your nails, this might be a great product to try.

Just as I had planned on wearing a lovely glamorous Hollywood look with red lips and a winged eyeliner, my Avon Glimmerstick Liqui-glide eyeliner (£2.50) gave up the ghost. Timing couldn't have been worse! The product has the consistency of a liquid eye liner, but it's in a pencil form and has great precision, which is great for me since I find that liquid liners can be quite difficult to work with. The liner lasted really well throughout the day without any smudging but it was also easy to remove in the evening. I wore the shade graphite - perfect for creating a flick but not quite as harsh as darkest black, all in all a very nice and budget friendly eye liner.

The last empties is one of the winter scented candles I recently bought from Lily-Flame Candle (£8.50). Winter Wood was a fresh, but woody and aromatic scent, almost like the scent of Christmas tree. In the tin it was a bit soapy but I was very positively surprised and it filled the room with a lovely homely scent. I'm usually never disappointed in the candles from Lily-Flame - the scents are great, the candles burn a long time and they usually burn really well. This time however I wasn't pleased when the candle after about 15 hrs refused to burn any longer and had turned into the shape you see in the photo. A bit disappointing, but at least the other candles that I bought haven't let me down, and are just as great as I've come to expect.

I didn't manage to finish as much as I had hoped this month, but I'm sure I can find space somewhere if Santa is kind enough to bring me some lovely beauty bits and pieces this Christmas...

Tame your mane with hair oils

One of the most frequently sold hair care products in the world is hair oils and you can't open a magazine without there being some promotion about the latest miracle in oils. The reason oils are so great for your hair is that they contain essential fatty acids, vitamin e and anti-oxidants from various types of oil. Essential fatty acids help to control your hairs hydration and elasticity, vitamin e helps to heal damaged hair and anti-oxidants helps to reduce discoloration. Most hair oils are multi-tasking and can be used on both wet and dry hair; as a pre-cleanse, intensive conditioning, heat styling product or for finishing touches but regardless of how you prefer to use a hair oil it will sink into your hair, treating it and conditioning it at the same time.

There are so many types of oil available so I wanted to do a comparison to see if there was much difference between them, and how they worked on my hair. Most oils target different types of hair so it's definitely worth while doing some research beforehand to make sure that you get a product that is right just for you, and the products I've tested are all aimed at dry and/or damaged hair. As usual when I do a product comparison, I have a selection of products from different price ranges so let's get started - bring on the oils.

First out of these oils is Kérastase Elixir Ultime which contains ingredients that actively repair and nourish damaged hair. It comes in a large plastic bottle with a pump, and for me it's always a bonus when a product has a pump, so it's easy to get exactly the right amount of product - particularly important when it comes to oils since we don't want greasy hair! I use about two small pumps of oil - no more, heat it up between the palm of my hands so it absorbs better into the hair and comb it through my hair with a detangler, but never anywhere near the scalp. Elixir Ultime is a very light oil and it has the most amazing, sophisticated scent of exotic moringa which luckily stays on your hair for a while. Since the consistency of it is so light, it works great both as conditioner, treatment, detangler or as a styling product without leaving any greasiness or dullness at all. When I've used a tiny drop of Elixir Ultime, my hair feels silky and smooth and more well behaved, and it stays that way for several days afterwards. 

 

The second oil in this line up is a product you'll find on the high street, and I had some high hopes for it - it's the L'Oréal Elvive Extraordinary Oil, which is suitable for all hair types. Reading about it before I tested it, it sounded like a more affordable alternative to the Kérastase Elixir Ultime. It's marketed as a 5-in-1 "miracle hair perfector" which is supposed to give hair a glowing shine, nourish, make your hair silky and soft, smooth and perfect your hair. It comes in a stylish and heavy glass bottle which looks very nice, but may not be very practical and I'm worried it'll break on the floor of my bathroom at some point... Anyway, it comes in a very generous size and with a pump that dispenses exactly the amount you want, which is great. Another bonus for me is the gorgeous warm and floral scent of white flowers. So far this oil is reminds me a lot of Kérastase, but this is where the similarities end. The texture of L'Oréal Elvive is quite strange - it's definitely an oil, but to me it's much more like a serum with its gooey, syrupy consistency. I've used this as a conditioner and a detangler and it feels lightweight on the hair, distributes easily and it does add shine. Unfortunately I don't find it non greasy at all - it makes my hair look matte and unwashed and I just can't get used to the texture. Out of the oils I've tried this was the one I least enjoyed using, and to be perfectly honest I doubt that I will use up the bottle.

Next up is a product from one of my favourite hair care ranges - Macadamia Natural, and it's the Healing Oil Treatment which I got in a Macadamia Get Hooked package. This is a wonderful rich oil with quite a strong, but lovely nutty and slightly masculine scent. Because it's so thick I really enjoy using this particularly as a nourishing treatment before shampooing or added to a masque for that extra boost of hydration. I absorbs beautifully into the hair without leaving a greasy feeling and it's also light enough to use it as a styling oil for some extra finishing shine. Using this makes your hair feel silky and light and I've even surprised myself with how much I enjoy using it. The travel size also makes it very practical to bring in a handbag for any touch ups when you're on the go.

The last oil I've tested is the Body Shop Coconut Beautifying Oil which is a multi purpose oil, so it can be used both for your hair, face and body. It's a fairly light dry oil, which means that it absorbs straight into the skin so you don't have to worry about staining your clothes if you use it as a moisturiser, and it has an amazing warm soft authentic scent of coconut - delicious. I must admit that I find it difficult to understand how one oil can be multi purpose since at least my hair, skin and body need different things, and this is why this product doesn't work for me. As a body care product this is a lovely hydrating oil that illuminates your skin and I will definitely continue to use it like that, however I really don't like to use it either on my face where it feels far too heavy and almost fatty or my hair. I tested it using a tiny drop of oil at the ends of my hair and also to smooth down fly aways and kinks, but I felt as if it made my hair greasy, matte and weighed down and unlike the other oils this doesn't work for me as a product to perfect your styling. I still think it's a gorgeous body care product that I would buy again, but I wouldn't use this for hair care when there are much better options available.

Out of the different oils I've tested there are two products that stand head and shoulder above the others; Kérastase Elixir Ultime and the Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment, and I would repurchase both of these products faster than you can say follicle, however if I had to pick just one favourite it would be Elixir Ultime. 

It's a gorgeous, light and beautifully scented hair oil with just the right consistency for you to use it both on wet and dry hair. I have used Elixir Ultime since Spring time, and even though I found it difficult to get my head around all the different ways I could and should use it, it is now an essential item in my hair care routine. I also feel as if it's made a real difference to the quality of my hair and it's more nourished and tamed. As you may know I have long hair that gets put through a fair bit of wear and tear, but I have fewer split ends than before and it looks less frazzled after heat styling. I thoroughly enjoy using this oil and for me it's definitely the Ultimate Elixir.

Get hooked on Macadamia hair products

As a self-confessed beauty junkie there are certain products that are on the MUST TRY list e.g. Bioderma, Alpha H Liquid Gold, Origins Drink Up Intensive Overight Mask and Macadamia hair products. On one of my recent visits to amazing Beautybay.com, I saw the Macadamia Natural Oil Get Hooked pack and thought - what an excellent way to try this out since you get two travel size products to test - the Deep Repair Masque (yeeeaaay!) and the Healing Oil Treatment.

The Macadamia products contain natural oils from Macadamia Nuts and Argan Fruits that help to deeply nourish and rejuvenate your hair, leaving it smooth and shiny and let's start with the Deep Repair Masque, which might be one of the most talked about products from the Macadamia range. It's a very intense hair treatment that's supposed to do miracles for dry and damaged hair by rebuilding it and adding lots of nourishment, but it's so potent they recommend that you don't use it more than twice a week. The masque has a luxurious, rich and creamy texture and you massage it into your hair, comb it through and leave it for about 10 mins before washing it out again. For some reason I thought that the masque would actually smell of nuts (maybe that's just me), but it definitely doesn't - instead it has a light, fresh and lovely scent with a faint apple note that stays on your hair for a while afterwards.

I tend to be very generous with the amount I use for hair treatments because I like to feel that it's doing something, but with this masque I only needed an amount a little bigger than that of a 50p coin to get enough, and in total I got 3 and a bit uses out of the sachet. Afterwards my hair felt so soft and nourished just as if I had just been to the hair dresser, and this feeling lasted for days - I was a very happy bunny. 

The other product in the set was the Healing Oil Treatment which again is particularly great for dry or damaged hair and this can be used in several different ways - either to help style your hair or you can add it to the masque to give it some extra boost. I've mainly used the oil for styling - adding it to the ends of my hair, and also to control fly aways. It's a really lovely thick oil, much thicker than other ones I've used before that have been very thin and fluid, so you only need very little of it. Despite being a thicker oil it feels surprisingly light on the hair and it blends in very well, so you don't have that greasy feeling that some hair oils can leave. This actually smells very nutty and spicy - definitely more perfumed than the masque, but it's not overpowering in any way and overall it's so lovely to use, leaving your hair feeling protected and amazingly smooth and groomed.

It has to be said that neither of the Madacamia products are budget buys and they are pricier than most hair care ranges. However, since you don't need to apply very much of them and you won't use the hair masque more than twice a week - they will last a while. So if you can afford it, it's an amazing product, definitely worth the hype. 

I also got myself a Macadamia Natural Oil No Tangle Brush, after having heard so much about this type of brush. Since I always get a big kink on the left side (it's a bit strange because I don't get it anywhere else - Him Indoors calls it crazy hair... nice of him), I use a detangling spray to make my hair behave as it should, and also to make the whole disciplining part less painful. What's so great about these brushes is that they are specially designed to sort out your hair with minimum pain and hair breakage. I know you probably won't believe this until you try it yourself, but the brush just glides through your hair with minimum effort - it is absolutely fantastic! If you don't have a brush like this, you HAVE to get one and it'll probably be one of the kindest things you can do to your hair to help it stay strong and healthy. I know you can get Tangle Teezers from Boots for about £12, but if you go to Beautybay.com you can get the Macadamia one for half the price.

So the question is, am I hooked on Macadamia? - You BET I am, and I will definitely be investing in the full size products, all in the name of strong shiny hair - after all, it's the one accessory I wear every single day!